Spirited
by OceanSpiral
Summary: Pokemon training was never her choice, but when Sienna finds her mum gone, claiming to be chasing her dad, she discovers the path of a trainer is now inevitable. Partnered up with a feisty Mareep and a plethora of other 'spirited' Pokemon, Sienna seeks out revenge on her violent estranged father. But the sinister plot she uncovers proves a doorway for something entirely unexpected.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

It's funny the things you remember about your childhood, isn't it?

In my case, I always seem to remember the trivial things, you know? I remember clear as day the time I was chased all around my father's Pokemon dojo by a rather irate Machoke because I didn't bring it its daily supply of Oran Berries quick enough.

But…ask me to tell you the reason my dad left when I was thirteen, and I couldn't tell you. I've got nothing. Zilch. Zip. Can't remember. It's all a blank.

All I can remember is that I was happy to see the back of him.

Sounds horrible, doesn't it? How can someone be so happy to see their own father leave? I'm sure you're expecting some sort of big sob story as to why, so sorry to disappoint you. It's not like he beat me, or abused me, or spent all his waking movements shouting and screaming or criticizing me. He never did anything like that because he was never _around _to do stuff like that. He devoted all his time to Pokemon battling, day in, day out. Never really had time to be with his daughter. I can count on one hand the number of times my dad ever sat down with mum and me to eat dinner, how many times he read me a story before bed, how many times he took me to the park or the beach…All those typical "dad" things he never did. Stupid silly little things that were so insignificant compared to the hell other children suffered from their own fathers...

The memories I have of him all revolved around his Pokemon. Dad either owned or was active in quite a lot of dojos over the Kanto region. He wasn't even at _home _for most of the year. He was a Pokemon trainer, and duties to Pokemon came even above family. Apparently, he was pretty good, last I heard.

I grew up around Pokemon. I was forever forced into helping at the dojos. My dad had something of a fondness for what he called "powerhouses". Fighting, Rock; Steel…all those kind of Pokemon. I can't say I was particularly endeared to them.

You'd think that kind of early exposure to Pokemon would mould me into an eager trainer, wouldn't you? Not me. When I turned ten, and all the other eligible children were eagerly filling out their application forms for one of the three Kanto starters, I declined. I wasn't interested in Pokemon battling. My dad however was adamant that I follow in his footsteps and initially thought my refusal to apply for a trainer's licence and a Kanto starter had more to do with the _type _of Pokemon offered.

"_Bwahahaha!_" my dad had boomed with laughter. "_That's my girl! Not interested in those puny Fire, Water or Grass types, eh? How about we fix you up with something a little more exotic? How about a tough Fighting type? A Mankey, perhaps. Or a Machop? A Makuhita?"_

_"No, thank you._"

"_Oooh, so it's a Rock type? Excellent choice. A Geodude, maybe? OR I could even get you your very own Onix! How many other kids your age could say they have an Onix of their very own?"_

_"No, I don't like any of them."_

_"Okay, okay, a tricky customer, eh? Well, Steel then! I don't think I could get you a Scizor or a Steelix, but what about a nice Magnemite? You'd be doubly happy since it's an electric type too!"_

_"No, dad. I don't want any of those Pokemon."_

_"Well, why the hell not? Do you realise what you're being offered here? Any other boy or girl would be delighted at getting a rare, strong cool Pokemon personally raised by their own dad for their starter! What's the matter with you, girl?"_

_"I don't _want _any of those Pokemon, dad, because I don't _want _to be a Pokemon trainer!" _

I can't quite remember what happened after that. Needless to say, it wasn't pretty.

Not wanting to be a Pokemon trainer was on par with being a mass murderer when it came to my father. I'm pretty sure he didn't speak to me for weeks afterwards. As time moved on and after circumstances unfolded, I watched my friends eagerly embark on their own Pokemon adventures for the first time and felt no need or want to join them.

I don't know what made me decide not to be a trainer. Maybe it was my resentment at being forced into it. Maybe my impression of Pokemon in general was wrongly influenced by the actions and behaviour of the rowdy, disruptive and violent Pokemon my father owned. Maybe it was something else entirely…

Whatever the reason, I knew in my heart I was never going to be a Pokemon trainer.

That is…until an incident on my 15th birthday unceremoniously shoved it on me.


	2. An Unwilling Trainer

I woke up very early on the morning of my fifteenth birthday. The sun was already streaming in through the gaps of my blinds, bathing the little room in glowing golden light. I stretched my body lazily under the warm sheets; a big smile on my face, then slipped out, pulled a dressing gown over my shortie pyjamas and padded down silently to the living room.

I had to be extra careful and creep past Mum's room. Mum had been a trainer in her "glory days", as she called them and her team of three Pokemon now had the run of the house. She had a penchant for dog Pokemon, owning a Growlithe, Electrike and Houndour, each with sharp hearing and even sharper noses.

I managed to make it downstairs without alerting any of Mum's Pokemon, something of a minor miracle. Her three were energetic, mad balls of fur, always getting into scraps without warning, and barking, snapping and growling at each other incessantly. I personally didn't understand Mum's fascination with them, but then again, when it came to these dog Pokemon, I wasn't exactly their biggest fan.

I collapsed on the sofa, taking care not to make too much noise. I seriously did not want to wake Mum or her Pokemon. I just wanted to relax, curl up on the couch and watch television by myself for a few hours. I flicked aimlessly through the first few channels, finding nothing but lame Saturday morning Pokemon cartoons. Eventually I settled on a cooking programme, snuggled into the huge couch cushions and ate dry cereal straight out the packet. Classy, eh?

I went undisturbed for about a whole blissful hour, before I heard the unmistakable sound of something coming down the stairs. A moment later, Mum's Growlithe butted its head into the room and scampered up towards me. I cursed silently. I had kept the volume of the television down, but evidently, Growlithe's sharp ears had still picked it up.

"What do you want?" I hissed at him irately as he put his giant paws up on my legs.

"Growl!" he barked happily, wagging his tail.

"Shush!" I told him, wincing at the noise he was making. "You'll wake Mum and the other two!"

He just looked at me, inquiringly, his long tongue lolling out of his mouth.

"What? You want fed?"

"Growl!"

I took that as a yes. I wasn't best pleased at being lumbered with feeding duties, but I knew if I didn't, he'd start barking and whining and wake the whole _neighbourhood _up, never mind the whole house. I definitely didn't want _that_. So, I unwillingly heaped meat and biscuits into the huge bowl that belonged to Growlithe, trying to be as quiet as I could, then stomped back to resume watching the television.

But only a few minutes later he was back.

"Growl?" he barked happily, leaping up on the sofa next to me. He then shuffled up beside me, almost headbutting me off the couch in his endeavours.

"Get off!" I said, trying to push the Growlithe's massive bulk off the couch, but he stubbornly refused to budge. After about five long minutes of trying, I gave up, let him sit where he wanted and compensated by stuffing another fistful of dry cereal in my mouth.

I eyed the Growlithe darkly over the cereal box as it collapsed over my legs, sending twinges of pain shooting up from my ankles to my knees. I knew for definite I would have severe difficulty walking afterwards from the constriction of blood flow, but I wasn't about to argue with it. Especially since I knew the Growlithe knew attacks like Bite and Crunch, not to mention its wicked Fire type attacks…

I know I'm complaining a little, but I suppose things weren't _all _bad. I mean, I much preferred having Growlithe, Electrike and Houndour running around the house instead of the Pokemon Dad used to have. Dad owned a Pokemon dojo that actually adjoined onto the house and he had at least thirty of the meanest looking, nastiest, disobedient Rock, Fighting and Steel Pokemon in existence. They were forever parading around and stomping in and out of the house and the adjoining dojo, breaking almost everything in their path. I know it sounds awful, but I can honestly say I hated almost every single Pokemon my dad owned.

I felt sorrier for Mum than I did myself. Dad had a very controlling, dominating nature, exactly like his Pokemon. When Mum married Dad, he made her give up her love of Pokemon training, which she was deeply upset by. Even worse, when they settled down in a house of their own and built the adjoining dojo, he banned her from allowing her three Pokemon out their Pokeballs in the house, claiming they upset his own Pokemon. Well, I know for a fact that it was the other way around. I lost count of how many times I had seen his Golem or his Rhydon or his Machamp terrorize Mum's three, mostly harmless, Pokemon.

So, long story short, at least Mum's Pokemon were happy that Dad pushed off and they could have their own freedom. Though to be honest, I'm pretty sure Mum was happy to have that arrogant, control freak out of our lives too.

Look at me, blabbering on about my dad again. I mean, seriously, I'm not one of these girls that make a big fuss and cries like a baby about every little bad thing in her life. I'd like to think I was a little tougher than that. Besides…when all's said and done, I really don't care he left.

As I thought about this, the programme on the television drew to a close and the credits began to run. I looked at the clock in curiosity. Almost eleven. I found it strange that Mum wasn't up. It was her only daughter's birthday, after all. Surely that should warrant an early rise? I sighed, and snatched my legs out from under Growlithe and limped over to the kitchen, trying to shake off the numbness.

I switched the kettle on to make tea, pulled out some mugs and filled them. One with two sugars and milk for mum, and just milk for me. While waiting, I pulled open the curtains and opened the windows slightly, letting the cool clean air waft in. I breathed in the cool April air, smiling. Once the kettle was boiled, I filled the mugs high and slowly began the perilous ascent upstairs. I say "perilous" because Mum's Growlithe was playfully snapping at my heels at every step I took, and I could seriously see myself tripping and soaking _both _of us in boiling hot tea.

I made it up the stairs after what seemed like an age, and shuffled to my mum's room. I didn't bother knocking. I technically couldn't, with two hands full. To compensate, I ended up rather haphazardly using my elbow to push down the door handle. I resorted to kicking the door open as well. Graceful, I know…

But as I entered the room, I realised something in fright. The room was completely dark. And quiet. I had made enough noise getting in; I had expected some sort of reaction.

"Mum?" I whispered.

No reply. Not even a rustle. I was confused. Normally when I went into mum's room unannounced, her Pokemon went wild.

I set the cups down on the dresser close to the door, and snapped the light on. I wasn't really sure what I was expecting to see, but I certainly wasn't expecting _this. _

Mum's bed was freshly made. Immaculate, even. It looked like it hadn't been slept in yet. Electrike and Houndour's Pokeballs in their minimized forms were lying idly on the bedside table. The room was cold, like no-one had been in it for a while. Panic began to set in. This wasn't like Mum! Where was she?

But then, a thought struck me. What if she had just nipped out somewhere before I woke up? But surely I would have heard her? The Pokemon would have made a noise, surely? But then again…maybe that's why they were in their Pokeballs? No! Mum always took at least two of her Pokemon with her every time she went out. And in all seriousness, where could you go at seven or eight in the morning in Pallet Town?

"Growlithe?"

I turned in a panic to the orange and black puppy Pokemon next to me. "Where's my mum? Have you seen her?"

Growlithe just looked at me, his head cocking to one side. It was clear he was as clueless as I was.

"_Okay, okay, don't panic!_" I told myself as I tore into my room. I looked out the window quickly, momentarily thinking that she had maybe just gone outside or something, but the garden was empty. "_Okay, maybe she's just gone out to the neighbour's?_" I thought as I pulled on some clothes. I wasn't fussy. I was too nervous to be fussy. I picked out a pink chequered skirt and grey tank top, pulling a blue hoodie over my head, and finally shoved on some white trainers.

"_I mean it's not like she's not gone off anywhere on her own before!_" I tried to reason with myself as I thundered down the stairs. "_But without telling me beforehand? Or leaving a note? And never _this _early in the morning!"_

"Growl!" Growlithe suddenly let out a low, warning growl.

I looked at him. His normally perky ears were now flat, his hackles were raised and he was growling viciously. I looked at him in shock. I had seen him getting confrontational when challenged or annoyed by dad's Pokemon, but not like this. It was making me even more nervous than normal.

"What's going on?" I asked him shrilly.

He just barked loudly and kept his eyes firmly fixed on the door. My eyes slowly moved to the door too. My heart leapt.

"Is…is there someone outside?" I whispered, feeling my mouth suddenly become dry, my heartbeat accelerate, fear gripping my heart like an icy fist.

"Growl!"

"Oh God…" I felt myself start to shiver. I looked worriedly at Growlithe. Sure, it was a pretty powerful Pokemon…but I didn't know the first thing about battling. It probably wouldn't listen to me! What if it just took off and left me? I'd be left all alone at the mercy of whatever was waiting for me out there.

"_This is ridiculous!_" I told myself, shaking my head fiercely. "_What are you, some scared little girl? Just cos your mummy isn't around! Come on, you coward! Open that door right now and prove there's nothing there!"_

I reached out and grasped the door knob before I could change my mind. I slowly pushed the door open. I fought a sudden, stupid urge to scream as the door swung open to reveal…nothing. I exhaled deeply, realising with some embarrassment that I had been holding my breath. I took a cautious step forward, half expecting to be jumped by some kind of indescribable monster or some axe wielding maniac or a whole _swarm _of Pokemon. But unsurprisingly, that didn't happen. I finally managed to convince myself that there really was nothing there and wasted no extra time in scuttling back inside the house.

My hands were still shaking slightly, but it didn't stop me from bolting and locking the door faster than I have ever done before. Still not entirely satisfied, I shoved my back against the wood of the door and let out a juddering sigh. It was then I noticed a rather gormless looking Growlithe staring at me.

"What?" I demanded of it, feeling somewhat foolish that it had managed to work me into such a panic. "There's nothing out there! Some guard dog you are!"

With that, I stalked off with as much dignity as I could muster, back upstairs to my mother's room.

I collapsed on her bed, burrowing my head into one of her pillows. As I began to wonder what I was going to do, it was then I heard something rustling under me. Confused, I pushed myself up and pulled out from underneath my stomach a hastily stuffed envelope addressed…to me?

I wasted no time in opening it. It was covered in writing that was no doubt my mother's, but instead of her normal intricate, delicate print, it was an untidy scrawl. It took me a minute to decode it.

"_My lovely daughter,_" it read. "_I'm sorry to do this to you. Especially on your birthday. But something terrible has happened. I'm sorry; I can't go into much detail over this. I haven't got much time. I have heard of an incident occurring in the Hoenn region that concerns your father, and I have to go there and stop him. But for you, my darling, you cannot follow. It is too dangerous for you. I have always respected your wishes to shun the life of a Pokemon trainer, but suffice it to say, without their protection, you stand no chance of following me and assisting me. I have left Growlithe here to look after you, but have taken Electrike and Houndour with me. All I ask for you is to be patient and wait for my return. _

_All my love_

_Mum_

_P.S Don't even think about following me. You have no Pokemon, no Pokeballs, no gear. Nothing. Growlithe needs to stay here and protect the house, and besides, he wouldn't listen to you._

_P.P.S I'm serious. Don't follow me. I love you. I don't want to see you hurt. _

I slowly put the letter down. My hands were shaking. Tears were pricking at my eyes, but I tried to blink them away. I couldn't believe what I had just read. My mother had just taken off to some God-forsaken region hundreds of miles away chasing after my _father _of all people. And what's more, she had forbidden me to follow!

"_This isn't happening!_" I told myself. "_It's a wind up! Someone's having a right old laugh at my expense! Well Happy Birthday to me!" _I bitterly threw the letter over the bed and began to sob.

I must have cried for about an hour, maybe more. Bitterness and disappointment and fear wound themselves around my brain like snakes and I could only cry. When I finally managed to get a hold of myself, I saw that without my noticing Growlithe had curled itself up into a ball next to me. In a move totally alien to me, I couldn't help but wrap my arms around its fuzzy neck, nuzzling my swollen face into its fur.

"What am I gonna do?" I asked out loud.

Growlithe whined sadly. It was clear he felt my mum's absence too. I wasn't sure if he knew exactly what was going on, but I supposed he had some idea. His trainer had just up and disappeared, leaving him alone. He must have felt just as bad as I did.

"I…I can't just stay here for the rest of my life! What if Mum gets hurt? She's only got two Pokemon with her! And if she really is after my dad… he has loads of Pokemon! Really strong ones too! There's no way she could take him on! And it's a long way to Hoenn…what if she—"

I suddenly stopped. Mum had said something about an "incident in Hoenn"?

I launched myself off the bed and ran down the stairs, almost falling over my own feet. I dived into the living room, snatched up the remote and switched it on to the News. It took me a lot of button smashing before I eventually managed to find the Hoenn Regional News.

"_And today's top story; the Pokemon league Champion has once again defeated his string of challengers…"_

I watched the news over and over again looking for some mention of an "incident" but there was nothing. Nothing at all. Just fluffy sob stories about people and their Pokemon working together to overcome adversity. The same old, same old type of stories we got here. I let out a sigh of relief. Maybe this incident hadn't happened yet. Maybe I still had time.

I decided then and there what I had to do, as I ruffled Growlithe's fur absentmindedly.

I couldn't leave my mother out there alone. I had to go after her.

I didn't have a choice.

I had to do what I always swore I'd never do…

I had to become a Pokemon Trainer.

* * *

**Author's Note**

**I swore to myself I wasn't going to do an author's note, but oh well...**

**Since we're here, I hope you enjoyed my very first submitted fanfiction! Please read and review!**

**A disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Pokemon or nintendo. Pokemon belongs to Satoshi Taijiri, but the OCs and storyline here are mine. **

**In the cases of the upcoming Gym Leaders and characters beyond the Kanto League, I'm taking creative liscence as I'm not sure completely how to write them, as I've never seen them in the anime. **

**Please everyone take a look at my DeviantART page (link can be found on my profile) for concept art for this fic, Spirited chapters and some original fcition. Share the Spirited love! :)**

**Or, if you REALLY like the fic, join the Spirited DeviantART group! (link also found on my profile). **

**Chapter 2 will be following soon! Probably tomorrow**


	3. The Pokemon Professor

Of course, it's very easy to just _proclaim _you were going to be a Pokemon trainer. Hundreds of people say that every day. It takes a lot more to actually achieve it. And of course most people who say that actually want to do it for more of a reason than "I have to. I've got no choice" and "I wanna take my dad down!"

I knew this wasn't going to be easy. I had no major interest in Pokemon. I didn't know the slightest thing about them. I didn't know anything about type match-ups, or what moves to teach them, or what they evolved into, or what food they ate or anything like that! I definitely didn't know how to survive out for weeks and months at a time on my own; I could barely follow a map or use a compass, so how on earth was I supposed to navigate myself to a whole other region? I didn't even have any gear; no Pokeballs, bag, licence, or a decent amount of money to my name.

And most importantly, I didn't own a single Pokemon.

I couldn't let that stop me! My Mum could be in danger! I couldn't let her get herself hurt or even killed while I just sat around and did nothing! That wasn't in my nature! Besides…if she really was going off after Dad… I wanted to be a part of that too! I wanted to give him a piece of my mind!

I had to come up with a plan fast. Mum and I were neighbours, and good friends, with the Kanto region's resident Pokemon Professor, Professor Oak. It was he who was responsible for handling rookie trainers and providing them with their first Pokemon. Perhaps… perhaps _he _would give me a Pokemon? Of course, I couldn't really explain to him the _real _reason I needed it so urgently…But I had to try. I didn't have enough money to buy Pokeballs for myself; I wasn't Growlithe's trainer so he wouldn't listen to me… I realised with terror that Professor Oak was my only hope.

I ran as fast as I could to Professor Oak's lab, only a short walk away. I debated about just bursting in, but then I realised that he probably would be less likely to just hand over a Pokemon to a rude girl who had just stormed into his lab, unannounced. No, if I wanted to come across as a person capable of handling Pokemon, I would have to give the best impression as I could. Polite, kind and on her best behaviour!

I knocked on the door and waited…

And waited…

And waited some more…

I began to get desperate and banged on the door with my fist. "Professor Oak!" I called through the door. "Please! I need to talk to you!"

"Aaah, well, well, well…" a voice came from behind me. I spun around to be faced with Professor Oak himself. "If it isn't Sienna from next—"

"Professor Oak!" My relief at seeing him meant I couldn't help but cut him off. Then, I quickly remembered my manners. "Umm, hi! Good morning!"

"And a good morning and a _Happy Birthday _to you!" he beamed.

"Eh? Oh…yes! Birthday! Mine! Yes! Good!" I babbled, embarrassed, trying to regain myself. With all the events of the day, I had totally forgotten it was my birthday. It didn't seem important in the scheme of things now…

Professor Oak looked at me oddly. I can't say I blamed him. I must have looked like a total idiot. "So…what can I do for you, then?" he asked.

It was now or never. I couldn't hesitate or dilly-dally, so I just came out with my request. "Professor Oak…it's a little embarrassing to ask this… but…do you think there's any way I could possibly get a Pokemon?"

"A Pokemon?" Oak's face was a mix of pleasant surprise and confusion. "But you've never shown much of an interest in becoming a trainer…"

"I know," I nodded, wishing I could hurry this along. "I guess when I came of age, I just wasn't ready. But I am now! I really want to start my Pokemon journey now!"

"You do know it's not that simple, right?" He neatly dodged around me to unlock the door to his Pokemon lab. He invited me in and continued. "You can't just _become _a trainer off the bat like that. There's weeks of paperwork involved in getting your trainer licence and even then you're not guaranteed to get one of the Kanto starters. Especially since all the ones for this month have been reserved for the ten-year-olds coming of age."

"Well…can you at least give me a Pokeball and I can catch my own?"

I said that with more of an edge than I had expected and unsurprisingly, it stirred some suspicion in Professor Oak. He looked at me seriously and I felt my heart stop momentarily. That was it. I'd blown it now. He wasn't going to help me. Now I'd be stuck here forever doing nothing whilst my poor Mum suffered at the hands of my stupid father! I'd never see her again!

"Sienna…" Professor Oak ventured slowly. "Is something wrong?"

"No!" I said quickly. Too quickly.

I must have sounded guilty or something because next thing I know, he was suddenly right in my face, his nose practically pushing against mine. His eyes were fixated on mine, as if scrutinizing me. I swallowed, instantly nervous.

"P…P…Professor Oak?" I stuttered.

"I may specialize in Pokemon for a living, but I _can _alsotell when a human is lying outright." He drew back and I dared breathe out. "People like you who were so adamant they never wanted to be a trainer don't just have a dramatic change of heart overnight."

I sighed. He could see right through me. Dammit, I was too transparent.

"Now, are you going to tell me what the matter is?"

As far as I could see, I was defeated. I didn't have a choice but to tell him. I probably wasn't going to get a Pokemon off him either way, so it wouldn't make a difference.

"It's my mum." I said softly.

Professor Oak's expression changed at once. He pulled up a chair and sat opposite me, waiting for me to elaborate. I took a moment to compose myself before I did.

"She's disappeared." My voice cracked as I forced the words out, feeling the threat of tears well up as realization hit me. "She's just…disappeared."

"Disappeared?" Professor Oak frowned.

"Yeah…" I nodded. I couldn't look him in the eye for fear of crying. The adrenaline from earlier had rapidly plummeted and realization had eventually caught up with me with a vengeance. "She left me a note…" I suddenly wished I had the note with me, but it was still currently lying on the floor of Mum's bedroom. "She said she heard of some incident involving my father up in Hoenn…apparently it was too important for her to ignore or something. She left her Growlithe with me…but she took her other two Pokemon with her. She said I'm not allowed to follow her since I'm not a Pokemon trainer and she knows her Growlithe wouldn't listen to me! I…I'm scared for her…I mean…my dad has so many tough Pokemon! She won't be able to do anything against him with just a Houndour and an Electrike!" I felt tears slip down my cheeks. "He's just too strong!"

"So…you thought by getting a Pokemon…that you could beat him?"

"I know it sounds stupid!" I said, furiously wiping my tears. "I know it's stupid and naive to believe that I'd be able to take down my dad with one Pokemon! I know I don't even know anything about battling and stuff like that! But I can't just stand here and wait for her to come home! That…that's not right! She could be hurt!"

"Although I admire your determination…" Professor Oak began.

"I know, I know…" I cut him off before he could say anything more. "You can't give me a Pokemon because you don't think I'm the right kind of person to train them. People who train Pokemon need to create bonds of friendship with them and you're afraid I'd be too wrapped up in personal vendettas, is that it?"

Professor Oak looked a little taken aback. "Well, there is that…But…"

Needless to say, I hadn't been expecting the "but".

"I don't think you would be a bad trainer, Sienna."

I looked at him, puzzled. Me, not a bad trainer? Was he insane? Everything about me should just _scream _"bad trainer", surely? I mean, I knew basically nothing about Pokemon and most of the Pokemon I had seen I had _hated _for various reasons! And the only reason I _wanted _a Pokemon was to go and, as I had rightly said, settle a selfish personal vendetta! Was it really morally right to give a person like me a Pokemon?

Of course, I didn't say all this to him. Just a simple "Why not?"

"Yes, the reasons you want a Pokemon aren't the…conventional reasons for wanting to become a trainer." He chuckled slightly. "But I'm completely confident in you. You take more after your mother than your father, thankfully. Your mother is an excellent trainer, you know?"

"My mum?" I asked him, confused. "But she only has three Pokemon…"

Oak laughed. "My dear girl, success is not always measured in terms of how much or little you possess of something. Just because someone has twenty or thirty Pokemon doesn't automatically make him a good trainer. All that means is that they can use a Pokeball correctly. What really matters is the _bonds _between trainer and Pokemon. The stronger the bond the better the relationship."

"But I thought it was better to have lots of Pokemon?"

"Sometimes, yes. But you think about this. Which trainer do you think is better? One has lots of Pokemon of many different types, but because of the high number he cannot devote as much time to each as he would like. Therefore, his Pokemon are under-levelled and sometimes disobedient."

I nodded, suddenly captivated by him, like a child listening to a bedtime story.

"Now, consider the second type of trainer. She has maybe two or three Pokemon, so she naturally may fall victim to a lot of type disadvantages. But, it will be easier for her to spend more quality time with each Pokemon and work with them on their weaknesses and overcoming them, therefore strengthening the bonds between them. Now, which of the two trainers do you think is "better"?"

"The second one?"

"Exactly!" Oak said with a wide smile.

"Wow…that never really occurred to me," I said truthfully, thinking over what he had just told me. "But…can people not be both? Have lots of Pokemon that they spend an equal amount of time with, always working with them and strengthening bonds?"

"Of course! It does happen! But it takes an exceptional trainer!"

"Oh…I see…"

"Don't look so downcast, Sienna. I know you're worried about your mum, but I don't think you have anything _to _worry about. She is an exceptional trainer."

"But so is my dad!" I hated to admit it, but he actually was.

"But how would you taking off after her do to help her? What if your mother takes care of whatever "incident" she wrote about in her letter and comes back home within a few days? What would she do if you're not there? Don't you think she'd be worried about you?"

"I guess so…" I mumbled. "But…"

"I think your mother told you to stay home for a reason. She'll probably have this all taken care of within a few days and be back home before you know it."

"But…what if she doesn't? What if she doesn't come home within a few days? What if she _can't _take care of everything? I can't just sit around here doing _nothing!_" I shouted the last part, anger getting the better of me. I bolted to my feet and headed for the door. Now I was more determined than ever that I was going after her! Pokemon or no Pokemon, I was going after her!

"Sienna, wait."

Something about the way he said those words made me stop and meekly turn around to face him.

"Wait here." He told me, before disappearing into the back of his lab.

With nothing else to do, and strangely obedient to his instructions, I sat down on the chair, letting out a mammoth sigh and holding my head in the sieve of my hands. This was all getting too much. Something was telling me that this whole situation was _bigger _than my mother had let on in her letter. Somehow I knew that she wouldn't be home in a few days like Professor Oak had hoped. I also knew that I knew that I had to do something to help.

I knew as well that I had to be realistic. I couldn't exactly go swanning off after a Fighting/Rock/Steel type master with just one Pokemon, no matter which one I eventually caught. I'd have to try and be like the second trainer Professor Oak described. A small, more powerful team sounded more attractive to me at this time. I'd also have to find out what types had the advantage over the ones my dad favoured. If I _had _to become a trainer, I may as well do it properly, I reasoned as I waited for Oak to return. If I was going to be a trainer after all, I was going to make damn sure I beat my dad firmly into the ground for the way he had treated us!

Oak finally returned a few minutes later. He was clutching some round red objects in his hands. Pokeballs! And a slim red rectangular type thing that I recognised from the Saturday morning cartoons. A Pokedex!

"I shouldn't be doing this," Oak handed over the Pokeballs and Pokedex to me.

I took them, rather in awe. I'm pretty sure my mouth was hanging open in shock.

"That red thing there is a Pokedex. You can use it to identify Pokemon you come across on your travels and it automatically records the data. Those red balls as you should know are Pokeballs. You can carry up to six Pokemon at any one time."

"Six?" I counted the balls in my hands. I had five.

"Yeah. Six." Oak nodded. "Now, how about you come through to the back of the lab with me for a moment?"

I nodded and followed him to the back of the lab. The only pockets I had were on my hoodie and it took a lot of shoving to get the five balls and the Pokedex inside. It was kind of like Tetris, I thought to myself as I manoeuvred each item about to make it fit more snugly.

I was led into a room that was like a shrine to Pokeballs. Everywhere I looked they gleamed down at me. The walls were adorned in shelves stretching from very top all the way down to the bottom, and each of those shelves held probably hundreds of Pokeballs. They were positioned, military style, like lines of soldiers, precisely ordered and straightened.

I felt nervous. What kinds of Pokemon were in those Pokeballs? Probably horribly vicious ones ready to tear me into shreds as soon as look at me! I really hoped I didn't knock down any of them and they escaped! I backed away slightly; suddenly not sure I wanted to be here anymore

Of course, walking backwards meant I couldn't see_ where _I was walking and I bumped into a small table in the near centre of the room. Three Pokeballs positioned on that wobbled ominously as I hit into it. One toppled off and I had to dive to catch it before it fell on the floor. I replaced it quickly, sneaking a quick look at Oak to see if he saw me, but thankfully he was absorbed in the Pokeballs on the lower shelf.

It was then I noticed some name tags in front of each of the Pokeballs on the table. I examined them closely. One read "_Bulbasaur" _and had a grass symbol_, _another "_Squirtle_" with a teardrop symbol, and the last "_Charmander" _with a flame symbol.

"_Of course…these are the starters for the trainers coming of age this month." _I realised with a pang of sadness. At that point I felt a little jealous. From what I'd seen on those lame Saturday morning cartoons and televised Pokemon battles, these Pokemon were rare _and _powerful. Even better than that was that they evolved into incredibly tough Pokemon like Blastoise and Charizard! If I had one of _them_, I could take down my dad no problem!

"Sienna?" Oak's voice suddenly cut into my thoughts. "Come here a minute."

I reluctantly left the Kanto starters walked up towards Professor Oak. To my shock, I saw that he was holding a Pokeball. "You know as well as I do that as much as I'd like to, I can't offer you one of the Kanto starters. They have already been reserved for this month's coming of age trainers. But I _can_ offer you this." He held out the Pokeball to me.

I reached out for it gingerly. I took the cold metal ball in my hand. It felt strange knowing there was a Pokemon sealed inside there. "What it is?" I asked warily.

"Why don't you find out? I warn you, though…she's a little…spirited?"

I looked at him, suddenly feeling stupidly nervous. I didn't like the sound of "spirited" either. Calling someone "spirited" was a cuddly euphemism for "feisty" or "strong willed" or "stubborn". I didn't like the idea of having to deal with an aggressive and disobedient Pokemon at any time of day, let alone have one like that for my _starter_!

I weighed the Pokeball uncertainly in my hands, unsure of what to do with it. Eventually, after another gentle prompt from the Pokemon professor I tossed, well, more like _dropped _the Pokeball to the ground.

There was a flash of brilliant white light that I hadn't been expecting, so I brought my hands up to shield my eyes. The light was gone as soon at it came, the Pokeball returned to my hand and I blinked in surprise as I looked at the Pokemon standing in front of me.

"Oh…hello?" I offered.

I don't know what made the Pokemon freak out all of a sudden. Perhaps "hello" was considered some kind of demeaning insult in Pokemon language? I don't know. All I know is that suddenly there was a vicious spark and crackle of static electricity that made my short red hair stand on end and sent me scuttling back a few feet, afraid of getting electrocuted.

The strange Pokemon fixed me with a fierce glare and its soft woolly coat suddenly increased in volume and puffed up, bristling with static. An orange sphere at the end of its short tail suddenly grew brighter, the sound of electricity crackling and sparking even louder. It stamped one of its stubby feet impatiently.

"Ma—reeeeeeep!"

* * *

**Author's Note**

**Whew! Sorry for the wait! It took me a long time to decide on my main character Sienna's name! And even longer to decide what Pokemon to give her for her starter!**

**As you can probably tell, Sienna and Mareep will probably be butting heads soon. **

**A huuuuge thank you to Syzdoth and Yuki Koromori for my very first reviews! Seriously, you guys made me so happy I just had to keep writing!**


	4. One Shocking Story

I stared dumbly at this Pokemon – _my _Pokemon? – for a moment. What even _was _it? Some kind of bad mannered sheep that wanted to electrocute its trainer? It had a shock of yellow wool, a blue head and stubby blue feet. Its short tail and ears were yellow and black striped, an orange sphere rested on its tail and it had a curly tuft of wool on its head. It definitely wasn't any Pokemon _I _had ever seen before!

"Sienna, meet Mareep."

"Mareep?" I repeated its unusual name to myself and then stupidly knelt down to its level to get a closer look.

What I felt next was white-hot pain shooting through my veins as my body was suddenly fired with static electricity. I think I cleared about six feet in one giant leap as I shot away from the sheep Pokemon in front of me.

"Wha…what's its problem?" I asked, backing up against the wall looking at Professor Oak in shock. "Why does it keep attacking me?"

Oak laughed good-naturedly. "Mareep are normally very timid Pokemon. Most of them have very mild dispositions. However…this one is a little different…"

"I'll say!" I said anxiously as the Mareep fixed me with another death glare and snorted at me, pawing at the ground like she was a Tauros and I was a Matador she would dearly like to gore. "Wh…what's its problem?"

Professor Oak's expression softened and a look of sadness passed over him. "A bad trainer." He said solemnly, folding his arms.

I frowned at this. "What…what do you mean a bad trainer?"

"This Mareep was owned by another trainer before she came to me." Oak explained with a rather sombre expression. "She already had quite a difficult temperament, but it wasn't anything a good trainer couldn't deal with… But her original trainer didn't have the patience to work with her. He said she wasn't the Pokemon he wanted her to be and he kicked her off his team."

"How…horrible!" My heart sank. I looked at this Mareep and all my anger at her slipped away to be replaced with an awful sense of sadness. "So… because she didn't turn out the way he wanted… he just got rid of her? What a monster! Why couldn't he just accept her for the way she is?"

"It's a question I find myself pondering all too often…" Oak looked sadly at the Mareep who was still crackling with static and eyeing me suspiciously. "Unfortunately a lot of trainers are like that. Their Pokemon don't turn out _exactly _the way they want them to…so they get rid of them."

"But that's wrong!" I couldn't help myself. "I thought trainers were supposed to accept Pokemon for who they are! Accept their individuality!"

"There are some trainers who view Pokemon as tools…" Oak said this with fiercely gritted teeth. "Nothing but tools to use at their bidding!"

"Well I won't be like that!" I declared passionately, wondering at the same time if it was really me saying all this. "I'll work hard to accept every Pokemon for _who _they are! I promise! And I'll start with Mareep he—YEOW!"

Of course, my impassioned speech was coupled with dramatically throwing my arms around the Mareep's woolly fur. It was just an instinct that didn't seem to belong to me, an automatic action. I don't know what made me do it, but I do know that I instantly regretted it. The Mareep obviously wasn't too keen on physical contact as I soon felt volts of electricity invade my body and shock me straight through to the core.

"Owwww…." I mumbled, falling on my back my whole body singed and slightly smoking. Professor Oak however, found this highly amusing.

"Well, well….you're already beginning to sound and _look _like a Pokemon trainer!" he laughed, as he helped me up.

"What? A bit scruffy around the edges?" I grinned, and then winced from the pain still tingling through my body.

"Mareeeeep!" the Mareep said defiantly as I dared to take a step near her.

I decided this time to pay heed to her warning and compensated by jumping up and down in my frustration. "What am I gonna do if she won't let me near her?" I fumed.

"You need to gain her trust." Oak said, suddenly producing some berries. "Here. Try giving her these."

I blinked in the face of the squashy juicy looking berries, wondering where on earth he had found them from. "Uhhh…okay."

I took them and without thinking, immediately shoved them in the Mareep's face. Unsurprisingly she took issue with this and I earned another shock for my troubles. I groaned. This was going to be impossible, wasn't it? How was I meant to rescue my Mum with a Pokemon that couldn't even stand the sight of me?

"Just hold out your hand to her, don't stick it in her face." Oak spoke with an assuring, calm, clear voice that resonated with me and somehow almost threw me off guard. Guess I just wasn't used to men being anything but loud and obnoxious to me. "Let her come to you."

So, obediently I moved my hand back, raised my palm and extended my fingers to allow her to see the berries properly. At first, she didn't want to know, but she soon caught the scent. She surveyed me closely as if trying to determine if I'd launch myself at her again, and then tottered up to me on her little legs. I hardly dared breathe. She snatched the berries from my hand, nearly taking half my fingers with them, darted off to the other end of the room and ate them in silence.

"Wow…" I got to my feet, rubbing my hands on my skirt to get rid of the berry juice. "That was a little intense…"

"This Mareep is going to find it harder than most Pokemon to accept and trust her trainer." Oak said. "You'll need a lot of patience and you'll have to spend a lot of time with her. Pokemon mistreated by their first trainer almost always can become rehabilitated if the second trainer is devoted enough to them. That's why so much care and attention is paid to determining who the second trainer should be. However, Pokemon very rarely recover if they're mistreated by _two _trainers."

Although what Oak said moved me, I felt a sudden pang of guilt, followed by a stab of insecurity. "But…what if I _can't _help this Pokemon?"

"I know you can." Oak said without hesitation, which surprised me. "This Pokemon is a lonely, damaged soul. And," he turned to fix me with an intense stare. "You're a little bit lonely and damaged yourself, aren't you?"

"Eh?" I gasped. I began to stutter in my haste to get my words out. "I—I—I wouldn't say I'm _damaged_! A bit lonely, yeah, I'll give you that!" That bit was the truth. I mean, there weren't any kids around here my age anymore, and any friends I did have had long since left on their Pokemon journeys. "But I'm not _damaged_!" I looked at him insistently. "I would never say I'm _damaged_!"

Oak chuckled, and then all of a sudden I wasn't sure if he had been serious or had just been joking. "Whatever you say, Sienna." He said flippantly.

I blew out in exasperation. I then looked at the Mareep who was now strutting around the room as if she owned the place. She still looked a little harassed. I swallowed at the sight of her working herself into a temper. My knowledge of Pokemon trainers was pretty limited, but I was sure that they weren't supposed to be intimidated or even somewhat _scared _by their own Pokemon.

"Regardless, I think you and Mareep are a perfect match." I was so caught up in watching the Mareep I hadn't noticed Oak was talking again and I tuned in again hastily. "I think you would be good for each other."

"_Good for getting electrocuted all the time…" _I thought darkly.

"Why don't you introduce yourself to her?" Oak suggested. "I know you're probably in a hurry, aren't you?"

"Oh yeah…" I said to myself. In all the commotion with the Mareep, I had almost forgotten my real reason for wanting a Pokemon in the first place. "Wait…what? Introduce myself?"

"Just go up to her and tell your name and that you're going to be her new trainer."

"Easier said than done!" I remarked. "She'll probably zap me again!"

"Only if you give her reason to."

"Good point,"

I slowly began to move towards the Mareep. Thankfully she had stopped parading around and was sitting back, seemingly enjoying being out of her Pokeball. She spotted me coming and I instantly froze.

"Keep your movements slow and deliberate." Oak said. I felt like I had a running commentary through this whole ordeal. Don't get me wrong, I _was _thankful for it. Who knows how badly I would've mucked it up if I didn't have him helping?

Feeling rather foolish for him to be watching, I carefully made my way towards the Mareep. I got as close as I dared before she started shooting tiny bolts of electricity at me, making noises that could only be described as growls. Did sheep growl? I wasn't sure as I knelt down to her level.

"Hello Mareep." I spoke in a soft, calm voice, visibly trying to stem my trembling hands. I was still slightly nervous of her, a situation that I doubted was helping. I mean, aren't Pokemon meant to pick up on human emotions? "My name is Sienna. I'm going to be your new trainer."

It took a minute for her to react. While she was stationary, I dared to hope that this was a sign of acceptance. I don't think either one of us breathed or blinked for the whole stand-off. Then just as I assumed the possible threat was over, the Mareep let out a crazed shriek, leant forward on its front legs and blasted me with electricity, this time even more powerful and ten times more painful than all the times previous.

I lay on my back, twitching slightly, feeling a total fool. The Mareep stalked past me to get to the other end of the room whilst I groaned to myself.

"You know what, Professor? I think this is the start of a b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l friendship…" I moaned, draping my arm over my eyes and letting out a long sigh.

"_This is gonna be fun!"_

* * *

**Author's Note**

**Two chapters in one day! Don't get used to it, I don't think it'll happen again! **

**Thanks go to Arrow's flight and The Black Arachnid III for the reviews! Happy reviews make me happy! **

**Can anyone also help me re-thinking the name of the fic? I honestly couldn't come up with anything better and I think the title lets it down. Any suggestions you have please let me know via review or whatever. Thank you!**


	5. Meloi

**Chapter 4:  
****Meloi**

"So…" Oak said, somewhat nervously as the Mareep and I eyed each other furiously in the main body of his lab. "Are you gonna nickname her?"

"Huh?" I looked at him, confused. "Nickname?"

"Yeah. A lot of trainers nickname their Pokemon," Oak explained. "They think it adds a touch of personality and creates intimacy. Surely you're not just gonna call her "Mareep", are you? There's hundreds of "Mareeps" after all."

I thought about it. Nicknaming Pokemon did seem more fun than just calling them after their species name. But then again…nicknames implied closeness didn't they? Did I deserve that kind of closeness with the Mareep? I mean, considering the _reason _I wanted Pokemon…it certainly wasn't to create a bond with them…it was to beat the hell out of my dad. Did I deserve a good relationship with my Pokemon?

"_I'll work hard to accept every Pokemon for _who _they are!_"

My words from earlier chimed through my head as I remembered the promise I had made to Professor Oak. "_Come on Sienna. Get a hold of yourself! Surely anyone who can make that kind of promise will be capable of seeing more than just the personal reasons? Everyone deserves those kinds of intimate bonds. Don't they?"_

I looked at the Mareep who was making a point of _not _looking at me. I blew out, ruffling my short fringe. It'd be hard enough to get the Mareep to listen to me just calling her "Mareep". Surely giving her a nickname would make it doubly hard?

But then again…I did like a challenge. And I was always one for individuality.

I mentally ran through a list of possible names.

"How about "Fluffy"?" I suggested.

"Ma?" the Mareep sounded highly disgruntled with the possibility of that name and I got another electric shock for the suggestion.

"All right, all right!" I said hastily. "Not Fluffy!"

"It wouldn't fit anyway." Oak pointed out. "Once Mareep evolves into her third form, she practically won't _have _any fluff."

That intrigued me. "Wait…Mareep evolves?"

"Of course she does. Ah, wait…I forget this Pokemon isn't native to the Kanto region. Never mind. But yes, she does evolve. Twice actually."

"Awesome!" I cheered. "_This means she's exactly like those Kanto starters that all evolve twice! Maybe she _will _be strong enough to take down Dad after she evolves!_"

I cleared my throat after that little gem of a thought and went back to trying to think of a nickname. If Mareep didn't have much wool or fluff or whatever it was she had when she evolves, it meant that names like Cotton and Woolly were out. What about something that played on her being an Electric type? Bolt? Sparky? Lightning? Ugh, but then again, none of those were exactly original. I wanted something unique! Something that stood out! Something that had my stamp on it!

"I've got it!" I announced suddenly.

I turned to the Mareep eagerly. "From this day on, you are to be known as Meloi! Or Mel for short!"

The Mareep just looked at me, clueless. I didn't get an electric shock at the suggestion, which I took as an optimistic sign. I grinned happily. It suited her just fine, even though she didn't show interest. Professor Oak on the other hand wanted to know more.

"Umm…Meloi?"

"Yeah!" I said, beaming excitedly. "Meloi! You've never heard of the "Meloi Khryseoi"? The Golden Sheep?"

"I can't say that I have."

"It's part of a Greek legend," I explained. "I read a book about it once. The Goddess Venus was said to have ordered Psyche to take a golden fleece from a flock of horribly aggressive and poisonous sheep known as the Meloi Khryseoi. So…. "Meloi" meaning sheep! I think it's a perfect nickname, don't you Mel?" I grinned, reaching out to pat the newly christened Pokemon.

And I'll give you three guesses what happened next. Yup. Another electric shock.

"Argh!" I cried, mournfully holding up my hands and begging to the sky. "I don't get it! Why is she so strong? I thought starters were supposed to be _weak_!"

Oak watched me with mild amusement. "Well, Mareep or _Meloi _as you like to call her is somewhat stronger than your average starter. Why don't you try using that Pokedex on her and seeing?"

"Pokedex? Oh yeah! That red rectangle thing," I said, pulling it out from my hoodie pocket. I opened it gingerly and with some assistance, figured out to open it and pointed the scanner at Mareep.

I was totally shocked when it started talking with a chirpy mechanical voice and almost dropped it. "_Mareep, the Wool Pokemon._ _If static electricity builds in its body, its fleece doubles in volume. Touching it will shock you._"

I laughed nervously and made a mental note of that little fact. "Nice advice." I commented, managing a weak smile.

The screen changed again showing Mel herself, plus a list of numbers that I assumed to be her stats, plus a sign depicting her gender. The stats made less than no sense to me, it was just a bunch of numbers, so I ignored them, figuring I'd learn more about how well Meloi battled by seeing it for myself. Then I noticed at the top of the page the words "Level 12".

"L….level _twelve_?" I gasped, staring at the number with horror. "But I thought rookies always started out with level fives! She's almost three times stronger than that!"

"You have a lot of hard work ahead of you," Oak smiled. "Pokemon with higher levels sometimes have issues listening in inexperienced trainers."

"_Lovely…just what I need…." _I thought darkly. Then I noticed something else. "Hey, what's all this stuff here?" I asked, indicating another list of words on the Pokedex screen. I began reading them off "Tackle. Growl. Thunder Wave. Thunder Shock? What are all these?"

"Those are the attacks that Mel already knows." Oak explained again.

"Oh…she must be using her Thunder Shock on me…Typical that she _had _to know that one…" I said dryly, closing the Pokedex up and replacing it in my pocket.

"Reep! Mareep!" Mel said indignantly.

I looked at her, then back to Professor Oak. There was a long silence. I knew that this was probably my cue to leave. I had too much stuff to do now, and I had taken up far too much of his time. He had been so good to me too.

"Professor…" I ventured. "I should go…"

"Hmm?" He looked at me. "Oh. Yes. Yes, of course. You have much to do, don't you?"

"Yeah," I said, nervously scratching the back of my neck. I looked back at Mel again, feeling all of a sudden really apprehensive. "Thank you, Professor for everything you've done for me."

"Any time, my dear." Oak grinned. "I'm just glad I've found the ideal trainer to take on Mareep, sorry, _Meloi. _I was starting to lose hope anyone would ever take her."

Despite my better judgement I thought to myself "_I wonder why…_"

"I should go home and pack," I said. "I need to leave soon. It's a long way to Hoenn, isn't it?" I laughed, even though I knew it wasn't funny. Oh well, always laugh in the face of adversity. "And I don't even have a clue where it is or how to get there. I've never been past Viridian city _here_!"

"Tell you what," Oak said. "I'll come round to your house in a little while and drop off the maps for here and Hoenn."

"Oh, that would be brilliant, thank you!" I grinned. I neglected to tell him I could barely even _open _a map the right way, never mind decode one. I was also the kind of person gifted with no sense of direction. You know, the kind of person who always thought north was the direction you faced…

"It's not a problem. I hope you find your mum and get this whole thing sorted."

"Yeah…I hope I do too," I said, eyeing my partner Meloi with some anxiety.

* * *

I decided to return Meloi to her Pokeball before I returned home. I really didn't fancy trying to prise apart Mum's Growlithe and an irate, already disobedient Mareep if they started fighting. Of course, it was a struggle getting Mareep IN the Pokeball, she definitely wasn't eager to go back in there and I got _another _few shocks for my endeavours. But then again, I couldn't blame her for not wanting to go back in there. It probably wasn't a fun place to be.

Professor Oak was true to his word and halfway through my packing he appeared with two giant maps for me. He was a little surprised when Growlithe almost knocked him over and even more surprised to witness my valiant attempts to haul him off. Of course, the Pokemon completely disregarded my commands, verifying everything Mum had written in her letter. I thought for a moment I would never calm the puppy Pokemon down, until Professor Oak slipped him a few berries and he completely relaxed and became calm and placid. Needless to say, I was shocked. I'd never seen him so well behaved before.

"You're a serious miracle worker," I said to him, whilst shoving some spare clothes into the bag I was planning on taking. "He's never that well behaved."

Oak laughed. He then looked around the slightly messy living room that I had basically ripped apart looking for some thing or other. "Where's Meloi?" He inquired.

"In her Pokeball." I indicated the belt I had attached around my waist. My six Pokeballs were hanging from them, Meloi's right at the front for easy reach. "I don't want her scrapping with Growlithe," I added sheepishly. "I think I have enough trouble getting her to listen to me without making it any harder…"

"Hmm…What exactly are you going to do with Growlithe while you're away?"

"I don't know." I admitted, shrugging my shoulders. "Mum wanted him to stay here and look after me, but if I'm leaving…Hey!" I had an idea. "How about you keep him until we get back? I'm sure you would both enjoy the company?"

He looked a little taken aback at first, but then he smiled. "Yeah. Why not?"

"Thank you so much!" I said, beaming. "At least I know he's in good hands and not running around the house on his own or stuck in his Pokeball all the time."

Oak grinned and stood up, Growlithe playfully darting around his heels, obviously becoming quite attached to him. He then excused himself tactfully, saying that he had things to take care of and he had to head back to the lab. I thanked him again; ruffled Growlithe's fur one last time and watched them leave.

I felt a strong rush of gratitude towards Professor Oak. He had done so much for me and asked so little in return, gave me my own Pokemon, the tools to carry out this seemingly impossible task…it was really thanks to him that this was all going to happen.

Well, it was going to happen as soon as I got my backside into gear and got ready.

I mentally checked through everything I had somehow managed to squash in my bag. Change of clothes, (practical clothes, of course) what little money I had, sleeping bag, food, water, a couple of Pokemon books I found in my mother's room that would teach me the basics of Pokemon training and type match-ups and things like that. I didn't have the items that other trainers had, like the special Pokeballs that worked better under certain conditions and the healing stuff like Potions or Antidotes. I was pitting myself at a severe disadvantage, but I didn't care. All I cared about was getting to Hoenn and finding my mum.

I set off soon after that.

I felt strangely excited leaving Pallet Town. I had made the journey to Viridian City a few times with Mum, so I knew where I was going. The only thing that was worrying me was that when I had gone with mum, we virtually saw no wild Pokemon as they were somewhat intimidated by Mum's three dog Pokemon. However…for a lone girl travelling with only a "spirited" and probably disobedient Mareep, or Meloi as I called her, I'd probably be a sitting duck.

Thankfully, I managed the short walk to Viridian City without any sudden challenges from wild Pokemon. I was, if I'm entirely truthful, a little disappointed that I didn't see any Pokemon. I wasn't naïve enough to believe I could win against _anybody _much less my Dad with just Meloi. I knew I needed to catch at least _one _more Pokemon to make sure I wasn't an easy target for more experienced trainers. _And _it couldn't be one of the same types as Meloi. If possible, I had to catch one that was strong against the ones she was weak against. But…I didn't exactly _know _what ones she was weak against…

I found myself an unoccupied bench in the bustling city known as "The Eternally Green Paradise" and pulled out one of the trainer books I had taken with me. I knew it had a list of all the type advantages and disadvantages in it, and I needed to study up. It was no good having Pokemon that were all weak against the same type or all strong against the same type. I had to have a balanced team. I opened the book. This shouldn't be too hard…should it?

Within two minutes, my head was already swimming.

"_Okay, this is harder than I thought…" _I thought despairingly, flipping through the pages desperately. "_I am totally out of my depth here…_"

As it turned out, there were _nineteen _different categories that Pokemon could be classified under. There were the more conventional ones like Fire, Water, Grass and Electric but there were also more unique and unusual ones I would never have considered to exist, like Dragon, Ghost, Bug and Dark. And every single one had a list of weaknesses, strengths, and in some cases, types that they were totally ineffective against. I felt overwhelmed, swamped with statistics, facts and figures as I tried to sift through the worthless information and find what types were applicable to Meloi and me.

I eventually figured out that out of the nineteen types, Meloi was weak to the Ground type.

"_Brilliant. Isn't that Dad's _favourite _type of Pokemon? How ironic."_

But on a plus side, she was resistant, or in layman's terms, strong against the Flying, Water and also to my delight, I discovered that Steel types were ineffective against her. I grinned. That would give me an advantage against Dad's beloved Steel Pokemon. The other types she wasn't particularly strong or weak against, so I suppose, in the scheme of things, I had a pretty decent starter. Only one major weakness and three advantages!

After all that, I pulled out the map of Kanto. Viridian was a pretty busy city, I discovered, not only from the map, but by the sheer number of people, trainers and locals alike. It lay south of Pewter City, the first stop for all rookie trainers as it was host to the weakest Gym in the entire region. To the west was the Indigo League where trainers that had gathered all the gym badges could challenge some all powerful group of people called the Elite Four or something? It all sounded a bit pretentious to me. I can't say I was interested in the whole thing either. I had a job to do and I couldn't let myself be distracted by such small minded things like battling some supposedly powerful Gym Leaders for no other reason than to show off and prove that I could do it.

I ended up asking some locals and discovered that if I wanted to get to another region, I would be best making my way to a place called Vermillion City where they had weekly sailings to Hoenn. Finally with a reachable goal to strive for, I knew it was time. Time for me to become a Pokemon trainer and set out on my journey.

"_Don't worry Mum! I'm coming!_"

* * *

**Author's Note**

**Another chapter, yay! I was happy to work in the story of the Golden Sheep. I'm a bit of a history nerd! I love mythology! **

**Thanks to Syzdoth for being the first person to review TWICE, so I'm very happy! Also, to the lovely MarLuna whose gorgeous review filled my day with happiness and sunshine!**

**Oh yes, and if anyone has any suggestions or constructive critiscm, I'd much prefer you to PM me with your comments/critiscms/suggestions etc so we can discuss it; much easier than me clogging up these author's notes! Thank you very much! :D**


	6. Three Discoveries

**Chapter 6:  
Three Discoveries**

I discovered three very important things on that first day on my journey.

First off, when realization eventually catches up with you on what you're doing and the fact you've just left home for the first time, and you're pretty much all alone in the world cos your mother's disappeared, you really don't want to be in a public place. You just get odd looks when you randomly start to cry.

The second thing I discovered, much to my delight, is that after you've been electrocuted about twenty times, you do begin to notice the pain less and develop some kind of immunity to it.

And the third thing? Well…that's a little more complicated. Let me explain.

I have to admit, I didn't travel very far that first day of my "journey". Isn't that an awful cliché? "Journey"? Ugh…anyway…I was feeling horribly sad and depressed once I finally let the day's events catch up to me, and first chance I got, I found an out-of-the-way site on Route 2 and pitched camp.

Once I was satisfied that I was out of the sight of most people going about their business, I dared to allow Meloi out of her Pokeball. I wasn't sure at first if I should. I wasn't sure what her reaction would be. I didn't need her freaking out, zapping me with electricity and running away. However, I needed to take that risk, because I needed to form a bond with her. I needed to earn her trust and be her friend and show her I wasn't a threat to her.

When I released her, at first she just looked confused at the unfamiliar surroundings and the sights and smells. Then she caught sight of me and immediately tensed. But her attention was soon on the berries I had put out for her. I had found a handsome selection of fat juicy looking berries hanging from trees, so I had helped myself. She looked at them, quite hungrily, but then she gave me the dirtiest look I have ever seen anyone give anyone before. "If looks could kill came to mind". I understood her apprehension and scooted backwards a little, putting enough distance between us that she felt safe enough to eat.

Once she deemed me far enough away, she practically inhaled the berries, barely stopping to chew. I guess she had some kind of idea that I was out to steal her food from her. Once she finished, she fixed me with a stare. It was then that I noticed she was actually kind of cute, all fluffy and woolly with a tiny little face. But she still obviously didn't trust me enough and zapped me quite pointedly for absolutely no reason. She then curled up into a ball and went to sleep, even though it was only about 5 o'clock in the evening.

I didn't like it when she went to sleep. I suddenly felt horribly alone and frightened. The fact I was experiencing those feelings scared me more than anything. It wasn't in my nature to get scared. I'd tried for so long to not show any emotion, not let myself be caught up in what Dad called "meaningless feelings" that when I actually did get scared; it felt a hundred times worse. I contemplated waking Meloi up to keep me company, but I knew all that would come of that would be another shock. I decided to snap myself out of it by slapping my cheeks with both hands, but ended up doing it much harder than I had expected. I had red cheeks for an hour, and it wasn't just from embarrassment.

It worked after all, and I was able to stop feeling sorry for myself. How could I expect to defeat my dad and help my mum if I was sitting here crying like a little girl? I had to be tough! Kids younger than me went out into the big wide world of Pokemon every day, and they were fine with it, so I should be too!

Instead, I used my time to figure out how I was going to tackle this whole situation. I figured there was no point in steaming ahead to Vermillion City straight away; I'd probably be wiped out the second I set _foot _in the Hoenn Region. But I couldn't waste my time dawdling either. So I came to a compromise. If I spent half the day training and looking for Pokemon to add to my team and the remaining time travelling, it meant I had the perfect balance between the two necessities. I'd reach Vermillion in good time, and I wouldn't be a total weakling. Of course, this was all dependent on whether or not I could get up early enough in the morning for the whole thing to _work. _

After figuring out my plan of attack, I immediately became bored, so I started reading another one of the trainer books. I started off with good intentions, but I think I cleared _one _chapter before I became conscious of the fact I had been staring at the same sentence for about quarter of an hour. I threw myself on my back in frustration. I was so _bored_! But I had wasted so much time feeling sorry for myself that night had crept in. And there was no _way _I was travelling at night. I sat up again, bringing my knees under my chin. I looked at Meloi, but she was still asleep, snoring slightly actually. In a moment of complete madness, I even felt a little bit of affection for her. She looked cute when she slept. You know….non-threatening. Like you weren't liable to get a lightning bold up your backside out of nowhere. Maybe I _could_ get used to her…even become her friend.

Night was crawling in, and I was becoming increasingly tired, but I was even more reluctant to sleep. Paranoia had set in and I was wholly convinced that Meloi had concocted this whole thing herself to wait until I fell asleep, and then take off! Then I would be left all alone in the middle of nowhere with no-one to protect me!

As you can guess, I barely slept that night.

I catnapped, on and off most the night, my body still in a sitting position. I wasn't sure if I didn't trust Meloi or all the other weirdoes no doubt skulking around the route. So by the time first light came, I was up like a shot. To my immense relief, Meloi was still in the exact place I had left her, still asleep. I wanted to wake her up, but I was not brave enough to give her a little shake or talk to her. As much as I was getting used to her little bursts of electricity, I didn't actively seek them.

Instead, I slowly slid a few berries under her nose, hoping the sweet scent would wake her up. It did. Very quickly. My mum used to say that the best way to a man's heart was through his stomach, and evidently, it applied to Pokemon too.

"Ma-reeeeeep!" she called out, almost…happily?

After scarfing down the berries, she looked at me expectantly.

"Umm…" I faltered, not sure of how to talk to her. "Good morning Meloi. Hey, what do you say me and you do some training today?"

"Reep!" She didn't sound too impressed at that idea and I had to duck from a rapidly incoming thunder attack.

"Awww, come on!" I begged, my arms over my head. "We could really use some training!" She just shot me another death glare. I tried a different tactic. Maybe appealing to her ego? "I want to see how _strong _you are!"

Of course, my knack for making things worse resurfaced again. "Reep!" She cried indignantly and aimed another thundershock at me, and this one hit its mark.

"Ugh…they never showed _this _on those stupid TV programmes…" I said, darkly, clambering onto my hands and knees. "Come on Meloi! I need your help! I need to save my mum! She could be in danger!"

Meloi obviously didn't care what I was talking about and shocked me again. It didn't really hurt, but I was upset at the fact she blatantly disregarded my plea for help on such an important matter! I sat there, looking at my disobedient Pokemon and felt tears pricking at my eyes. This was hopeless. Meloi obviously hated the sight of me. How could I ever call myself a Pokemon trainer? If I couldn't even get _one _stupid Pokemon to listen to me, how could I catch any others? How could I save my mum?

Tears were dripping all the way down my cheeks now and hitting the grass beneath us. I looked Meloi square in the face. She looked somewhat confused at the sight of water spurting from my eyes. She even took a wary step forward. At any other time I would have been ecstatic at the breakthrough, but I was past caring.

"Listen, Mel…" I sniffed, my voice was cracking so much I wasn't even sure she could understand me anymore. Before I could stop myself, it was like a floodgate had been opened and I couldn't control what words left my mouth.

"I don't care if you don't like me…I guess I'm just used to people being like that around me…But my mum _needs _me. She's all I have left in the world and if I can't help her, then…then she could get hurt! I never _wanted _to _be _a Pokemon trainer! Never! It was the last thing I wanted to do! But if becoming a trainer means that I even have a _chance _at helping her, then I'll do it!"

I chuckled, humourlessly. "And you know what? I was almost beginning to enjoy it. Just a little. I was beginning to get to like you, Mel. I looked forward to working with you and seeing what you could do…But…if…if you really hate me…then you_ can_ go. You can leave. It wouldn't be fair to saddle you with someone you don't like…I know you don't like trainers anymore…after how badly you were treated by the first one you had…and I can't blame you…even though I _swear _I'm not like your old trainer…I know it means nothing…if you're hurt by someone…you find it hard to trust _anyone_..." I looked away. "Trust me, I know…So…if you wanna leave….it's okay with me…"

I don't know what caused that outpour of emotions to just come tumbling out. I opened my mouth and the words came without my consent. I felt somewhat foolish having just poured my heart out to a Pokemon that couldn't stand me, but also relieved, like my body was lighter. I let out a juddering sigh, wiping the tears from my face.

"_Crying again? God…what a baby. What is the matter with you?_ _You've cried more times in these past two days than you have in the past two _years!"

I fully expected Meloi to disappear. I did think it was for the best. It wasn't fair on either of us if I kept her and she didn't like me. She wouldn't be happy, and I wouldn't be able to grow as her trainer. I mean…she'd be happier gone, wouldn't she? I could always catch another Pokemon…by myself...couldn't I…?

I fully expected her to take off there and then. But to my surprise, she didn't. She simply sat staring me out for a few moments. Then she trotted to my bag, stuck her head in it and came out with the bag of berries in her mouth.

"_So this is the thanks I get. She's gonna take off, but she's gonna take all the berries with her. Thanks a bunch. Looks like someone's got her priorities straight…Huh?"_

But she didn't take off with the bag like I had expected. I watched her in total confusion as she clumsily pawed the bag open and pulled some of the berries out. She nudged one of the berries close to me.

I looked at it, then her, with some apprehension. "What…should I eat it?" I asked her. I was actually pretty hungry; I hadn't eaten much since the other night.

"Ma!" I took that as a yes.

"Okay…." I shrugged, before opening my mouth and dropping the berry in.

I bit down before I realised that eating strange berries meant for Pokemon probably _wasn't _the best move. But before I could spit it out, an explosion of juicy, fruity flavours coated my mouth and tongue. It was delicious. Rich and sweet at the same time, thick syrupy juice and tender flesh…So much taste in such a tiny berry. It was surreal! But then I swallowed it. That was a totally different story. A blast of spice erupted from the bottom of my throat and ricocheted up to the roof of my mouth, burning incessantly, like I had just swallowed fire!

"Ow! Hot! Hot! Hot!" I cried, desperately scrabbling in my bag for a bottle of water. I downed the contents in one massive gulp, not even caring I spilled half of it down my grass stained hoodie, making my upper body seize up with the cold.

Then the strangest thing happened. When I eventually recovered I looked over the top of the bottle to see Meloi rolling on her back making some kind of strange cackling sound. Wait…was she…?

"Are you laughing at me? Hey! Did you do that on purpose?"

She sat up, still making that odd chuckling sound and looked right at me. A mischievous glint appeared in her eyes. "Mareep!"

I hung my head in shame. Dammit. She tricked me. I should've known any sudden sign of affection was too good to be true. Damn it to hell! I _had_ to get the Pokemon with the sadistic sense of humour…

"Mareep-Ma!" she nodded. Then she did something amazing. She trotted up to me, _right _up to me and butted her head into my knee. If I didn't know better I would have said she did it _affectionately._

I picked up one of the stray berries and offered it to her gingerly. This time she did not hesitate in taking the berry from me, and she was even gentle about it. I didn't risk losing my fingers like the last time I handfed her. She ate them appreciatively, squirting pink berry juice all over me.

She looked at me, and I could see a different look in her eyes. Not the death glare, not the look of mischief, but something else…Something I couldn't describe. Acceptance maybe? Was that little incident with the berry her funny little way of trying to cheer me up? Telling me she wanted me to be her trainer after all?

I dared to put my hand on her head. She let me. At that point, I really wished I could understand her language. I wanted to know what caused this sudden change. Instead, I settled for ruffling the curl of fluff and she baaed happily. "_Wow…she's had a total personality change…She's a right Jekyll and Hyde, isn't she? Huh…she even has a bit of a sense of humour. Just like me. And she's a little toughie as well, isn't she? Just like me."_

"You know what, Mel?" I said to her, feeding her another berry that she gobbled up in no time. "I think you and me are gonna get on just fine, after all."

"Mareep!" She said, happily waving her stumpy tail before she zapped me with another shock. I wouldn't have minded this one time…except for the fact I was still covered in water… The pain wrenched through my body like fire and I let out a howl.

"Owwww…." I fell back, my clothes singed and smoking slightly.

This was the second set of clothes Meloi had ruined through that carry-on. Even a few minutes later I could still feel the electricity crackling through my body. Meloi of course found this highly amusing and rolled around in the grass again, making her odd little laughing sound again. I decided to take it as a compliment.

"Okay, okay, I'm just gonna take your electric shocks as how you show affection," I groaned. My entire body screamed in revolt as I sat up and draped my arm across my raised knee.

She turned her head to one side, and then she aimed the tiniest little spark of electricity at me, making me jump. But it was more from the fact I hadn't expected it than for the fact it actually hurt.

"_Is…is she actually being gentle? Is she just being mischievous again?" _I decided that she must have been and laughed. "Okay, cheeky!" I teased her.

"Mareep-Ma!" she said happily, clambering onto my lap and butting my chin. She probably was trying to be nice, but the force of it meant that my top teeth came down hard on my tongue. Ouch. My whole tongue rapidly went numb and I ended up babbling incoherently for quite some time afterwards. And of course, sadistic rejoice-in-my-pain Meloi thought this was hilarious.

But even despite the pain, the numb tongue and the singed clothes, I was happy. This was a definite improvement between us. Our first step to becoming friends.

Do you remember me saying that I learned a lot my first day? Well, the third thing I learned was that sometimes showing a bit of emotion wasn't always a bad thing. I'm not sure what made Meloi change her mind about me, but I'd like to think she saw that she was the same as me…A toughie on the outside…but inside, maybe hurting that little bit. Or something like that. God, I'm not getting all sentimental, you know? I'll admit I have things in my life I'm not happy about…but I'm not _damaged _or anything like that, like Professor Oak said. Yeah, I've got my troubles, but then again, everyone does, don't they? No matter how bad I think I have it, there's always gonna be someone else worse off than me. It puts things into perspective, doesn't it? We've all just gotta pull ourselves up and get on with it. We're all alive, aren't we?

We gotta make the most of that.

**Author's Note**

**Okay, now the story really begins! Sorry it's taken so long for the action to start!**

**I've got plenty of ideas for the next coming chapters! Coming Soon: Sienna gets on the bad side of an experienced trainer from her home town and challenges him to a heated one-on-one battle! Also, she finally catches a Pokemon! And of course, just because Meloi finally accepted Sienna as her trainer doesn't mean she won't be a handful!**

**Thanks to all those who have read and reviewed, you guys rock! Special thanks to Arrow's flight! Thanks for the compliments on the name choice!**


	7. The Green and Black Boy Part I

"Meloi! Use Thunder Shock, now!"

"Ma-reeeeeeeeeeeep!"

A burst of light blue electrical energy burst from Meloi's thick woolly body and powered towards the tree we were using as target practice. The lightning shot hit the tree perfectly in the centre, charring the bark to brittle black.

"Excellent!" I grinned as Meloi got her breath back. "You're doing really well, Meloi! That was perfect!"

"Ma-Mareep!" She said proudly, swishing her tail back and forth.

It had been almost a week now since I had left Pallet Town and Meloi and I had come on in leaps and bounds. She trusted me now as I trusted her and although she was reluctant at first, she finally allowed us to start training. We hadn't yet ventured into Pewter City, as the abundance of trees surrounding Viridian and Route 2 were perfect to use as target practice. Every day we would get up and I'd scrawl a crude version of a target on several trees. I vowed not to move on from where we were until Meloi had hit the target perfectly in the middle. And today, after three days of trying, she had finally got it dead centre.

"Hooray!" I cheered, wrapping my arms around Meloi. Of course, me like a total idiot had forgotten that Meloi stored a lot of electricity in her woolly coat and touching it resulted in a nasty electric shock. But by now, I barely felt it, so it wasn't that bad. "Now we can finally move on! Yay!"

"Reep! Mareep!"

* * *

"All right then," I said, shouldering my massive bag after we finished packing up the campsite. "I think it's time to move on, don't you?"

By now Meloi was becoming quite companionable and was content to tottering along beside me as I walked. That's not to say we didn't have our difficulties. Like Professor Oak had said, Meloi had somewhat of a difficult personality. If she didn't get her way all the time, she would often become irate and I was often the victim of anger-fuelled tackles or thundershocks. She was also quite prone to picking on weaker Pokemon around the area, especially the weak Bug types like Caterpie and Weedle. She did once however get on the wrong side of a Beedrill, which resulted in it chasing her _and _me halfway back to Viridian City. Life with Meloi certainly wasn't dull at any rate.

We managed to evade the gaze of the resident bug catchers that frequented around the Route and made it to the entrance of the Viridian Forest. I wasn't overly thrilled at the prospect of going through Viridian Forest. I didn't like dark, spooky places, especially those filled with wild Pokemon ready to jump you. And ever since the Beedrill incident, I swore I was _never _going to catch a Bug Type Pokemon.

I gave some thought to enlarging my team as I prepared for entering Viridian Forest. Meloi was an Electric type, and she was weak against the Ground type. I couldn't remember _every _type that was strong against them, but I _could _remember that Water and Grass types were effective against them. I had checked the Pokedex for all Grass and Water types in Route 2 and Viridian Forest, but it had come up with nothing. All that was around the immediate area were Bug and Flying types. Bug types didn't interest me and Flying types were just as weak to Rock types as Electric types were. I decided I would simply focus all my attention on getting to Pewter City training Meloi up, and then try and find my second Pokemon. All I had to do was make sure I didn't find any trainers with Rock or Ground type Pokemon. It didn't look too likely as this place was devoted to Bug Catchers, and I was pretty sure Meloi could take down any Pokemon they had easily.

Viridian Forest turned out to be a _lot _bigger than I had expected. Now I understood why they called it a "natural maze". I could barely see the sky, so dense and thick was the overhead canopy of trees. That meant there was almost no natural light, which made it twice as hard to manoeuvre the deep forest, probably sprawling for miles in every direction. Overhead I heard the chattering and cries of Pokemon, and unseen shadows scuttled across the thick carpet of slippery leaves. I didn't like it. Meloi _really _didn't like it and growled threateningly into the darkness, wayward sparks crackling from her coat.

"Come on," I whispered to her, slipping her a few berries as encouragement. "Let's get moving."

We started on our way though the forest. I had expected and somewhat dreaded that there would be hundreds of Bug Catchers eager for battle milling around the forest, but the place was almost deserted apart from the occasional Caterpie or Weedle scuttling across from one tree to another. I had to keep a close on Meloi in case she took off after one of them, but thankfully she behaved herself.

Getting through Viridian Forest was taxing to say the least. Although we benefited from not being constantly hounded by trainers or wild Pokemon, it was very easy to get lost inside. We were met with many, _many _dead ends and with each one both Meloi and I grew more harassed. Meloi grew so annoyed that she ended up firing a vicious bolt of lightning into the overhang of trees, sending some tiny bird Pokemon I recognised as Pidgey flying off into the distance.

I sighed. "You can't just fire off random bolts of electricity when you get frustrated. Things don't always go the way we want them to, you know?"

She fixed me with a glare that clearly read "_I'll fire a bolt of electricity at _you_ if you don't shut up_."

We stopped briefly for a bite to eat. I noticed mournfully that my supply of human food was running low, but Meloi's berry fund was as full today as it ever was. She was forever sniffing out berries and berry trees, which I was happy about as it meant she didn't end up eating _my _food. I decided that once we reached Pewter City I would get a free room in the local Pokemon centre and allow myself the luxury of a warm bed and a hot shower for a few days.

After regaining our strength, we managed to eventually find our way out of Viridian Forest. I blinked in the sudden brightness of the sun. I had totally forgotten it was still early afternoon. I let out a cry of success, sinking to my knees and punched the air happily. "Yes! We made it through!"

"Ma-Mareep!" Meloi added to my cheer.

Pewter City was just ahead and the two of us raced there, almost knocking over some trainers moving at a far more leisurely pace. Pewter City's Pokemon Centre was the first thing I saw and I sprinted the last few metres, eventually juddering to a halt outside the doors. I recalled Meloi in a stream of red light, before entering.

I loved the atmosphere in a Pokemon centre. The place was always a hive of activity and had a warm, friendly atmosphere, like you had come home for a visit. They always offered free lodgings and food for any trainer that needed them, and each trainer was entitled to a free room for a week when they visited, which I knew to be a lifesaver for a lot of trainers. Aside from that, they offered PC and Videophone services, and often had a plushy lounge with a widescreen television and vending machines selling soft drinks. I relaxed as soon as I set foot in the warm, comfortable Centre and seeing an almost empty lobby and completely empty desk, I swiftly made my way to the front desk to Nurse Joy.

"Good afternoon!" The pink haired nurse smiled pleasantly. "And welcome to the Pokemon centre. Would you like me to heal your Pokemon for you?"

"Yes, please!" I said, handing Meloi's Pokeball over. She didn't need much in the way of healing, but she was tired and in need of a rest. "I'd also like a room for the next few days if that's okay?"

"Of course!" she said brightly, pushing a form in front of me and slipping Meloi's Pokeball under the desk. "Just sign this."

I signed the form with my scrawl of a signature and handed it back.

"Thank you!" The Nurses here just seemed to radiate happiness. It wouldn't fail to brighten anyone's day, even mine. "Now, why don't you take a seat and wait? I'll call you when your Pokemon has been healed."

"Thank you very much!" I smiled, before I went and sat down on one of the squashy sofas. It was pure heaven to lounge in a soft seat after a weak of living on what felt like a thick layer of concrete covered with a few shavings of grass.

There weren't many people in the lounge at all, to my surprise. I had barely seen any serious trainers since I had left home. Yeah, there were bug catchers, but no serious trainers. Most of the trainers here looked pretty young, probably no more experienced than me, definitely not people I had to worry about getting challenged by.

Since the other young trainers were either using the computer or the videophone services, I flipped the channel on the huge television to the Hoenn regional news. But still there was no indication of any kind of incident happening_ anywhere _in Hoenn. I breathed out a sigh of relief. That meant I still had time.

While I was still thinking this, the doors of the Pokemon Centre swung open. Out of curiosity I turned to look at who came in. My jaw dropped.

"_Who's _that_ guy?" _I wondered to myself as he came in.

Whoever he was, he definitely wasn't a rookie trainer. You could tell just by looking at him. From the way he dressed, to the way he walked, to the way he held himself…everything about him just _screamed _ace trainer. I watched him in awe as he strode confidently past me and handed over _six _Pokeballs to the Nurse. Without a word, he made his way to the couch opposite me and sat down.

I instantly bowed my head, afraid of making eye contact. But every now and again I couldn't help but sneak a glance at him. He was tall, slender, with long brown hair falling over a black headband with a strange green design. He wore a pair of black rimmed glasses and behind the lenses his eyes were the brightest green I had ever seen. He wore a pair of tight black jeans with the same green design snaking up the right leg. Many belts and chains were wound around his skinny waist. He wore an emerald green and white thickly striped t-shirt and a long black trenchcoat that just missed trailing on the floor. His whole outfit was set off by a necklace set with a drop of a green gem and short fingerless black gloves. Even his shoes were co-ordinated, mostly white with a curve of green, then a strip of black.

"_He puts more thought into his clothes than _I _do!_" I realised shamefully, looking at my mud-splattered, ripped boyfriend jeans and my tatty white trainers and pale pink strappy top. When it came to Pokemon training, I chose clothes for practicality, not prettiness, and as far as I was concerned, what was the point in changing out of one pair of mud-spattered jeans just to get the next ones dirty again?

"Trainer with the Mareep?" Nurse Joy called out, and I shot to my feet to collect her.

After clipping Meloi's Pokeball to my belt, I walked over to the vending machines at the side of the room. I really fancied a can of lemonade. I slipped the coins into the slot and punched in the key code. The machine whirred and I waited for the can to _thunk _into the slat at the bottom. But it didn't.

"What the hell?" I yelled at the machine, stabbing the buttons again. "You ate my money, you stupid machine!"

It still stubbornly held onto my drink.

"Awww, come on!" I aimed a kick to the machine's lower body. "I'm thirsty! Give me my drink before I make Meloi blast it outta ya!"

The machine still ignored my threats.

"You big stupid hunk of metal!" I fumed, practically sticking my head into the opened slat, trying to see in. "Don't make me come in there!"

"Hey,"

The sudden, unfamiliar voice startled me, and in my haste to get out and pay attention, I slammed my head into the top of the machine.

"Owwww…." I moaned, rubbing my sore head, already feeling an unattractive lump beginning to form. I had lost count of how many times I had injured myself this week.

I looked up through watery eyes at the source of the mystery voice. I almost hit my head _again _with the shock when I saw the boy dressed in all the black and green.

"You're making too much noise," he pointed out in a silky, cultured voice.

"_The bloody cheek!_" I thought angrily. "Yeah?" I challenged him. "And who are you to tell me that?"

The boy didn't say a thing to me. He didn't even look surprised or taken aback at my challenge. He simply leaned around me and delivered a swift chop with the back of his hand into the side of the vending machine. My drink _plopped _into the dispenser at the bottom. I could only just stare in awe as he picked it up and handed it to me.

"Trainer with the team of six?" Nurse Joy called out.

Without a word, he turned on his heel and made his way to the front desk, leaving me a little perplexed. I snapped open the drink and took a long draught. Mmm…It was tasty. Refreshing. But I never took my eyes off the boy in green and black.

The boy slotted most of the Pokeballs onto one of the belts around his waist, but he reserved one. He casually tossed it to the ground and caught the returning ball with practiced ease. In the place of the PokeBall was a mostly black Pokemon, with crimson eyes and yellow bands on its ears and tail, as well as yellow rings on its legs. I had no idea what the Pokemon was, so I flipped open the Pokedex and pointed the scanner at it to identify it.

The chirpy voice sounded alarmingly loud in the mostly empty Centre and I tried to shut it up, but to no avail. "_Umbreon, the Moonlight Pokemon._ _When darkness falls, the rings on the body begin to glow, striking fear in the hearts of anyone nearby._"

Oooh. I didn't like the sound of that.

"Hey, greenhorn."

"Huh?"

The boy in black and green was back again. His Umbreon by his side looked mean and menacing. I didn't fancy challenging _that _in a battle. But…I was ready to challenge his complete lack of disrespect!

"What the hell? "Greenhorn?" What do you mean by that?"

"You are, aren't you?" He looked at me, his upper lip slightly curling. "Anyone using a Pokedex to identify Pokemon just reeks of greenhorn."

"Yeah? And what's your point? If I don't know what something is, I ain't gonna stand around and wait for someone to tell me, am I? I'd rather find out by myself."

"Hmph." He snorted. His eyes then travelled down to the Pokeballs at my waist. I felt horribly self conscious. "You've probably only got one Pokemon, haven't you?"

"So what? It doesn't matter if you've got one or sixteen hundred. Just cos you've got more than me doesn't make you a better trainer. I bet my Meloi could take down _any _of your Pokemon, no problem!"

Of course, it didn't occur to me until _after _I said it, that it was probably a bad idea.

"Meloi?" He repeated the name, scathingly. "What kind of a nickname is that?"

I folded my arms importantly. "She's named after a Greek legend." I said proudly. "About when the Goddess Venus made Psyche go through a series of—"

"Yeah, you know what? I don't care." The boy suddenly interrupted. "Any nickname you need to _explain _the story behind for ten minutes is stupid. It loses its impact."

"Yeah?" I growled through gritted teeth. "And who asked you?" I scoffed, looking down at his Umbreon. "And what _highly original _nickname does that Umbreon have then?"

"Jet." He announced smugly.

"_Jet_?" I spluttered with laughter. "Are you kidding me on? Jet?"

"Yeah. What's wrong with that?" he demanded, a slight tinge of red on his cheeks.

"Aw, please." I said laughing, making a big dramatic gesture to aid my point. "Jet? As in "jet black? Hah! One word, mate. Cliché!"

"I…I…" he stuttered at first, but then his face creased into a sharp frown. "So what? Jet could take down your Meloi in _one _move!"

"Oh do you think so? You wanna make that official?"

"As a matter of fact I do!"

"Fine!"

"FINE!"

The two of us glared at each other, then we stormed outside into the city grounds, terrifying some of the younger trainers, sending them running for cover. The boy in black and green stomped towards an unoccupied grassy field and took his place at one end. I stood at the other. Part of me was screaming "_What the hell are you doing? This guy's probably an elite trainer! There's no way you can beat him_!" But another part of me was dying to give that stuck up little elitist a thorough showing up.

"The rules are simple. One-on-one, _obviously_," he grinned, the last little remark meant to be some kind of cheap dig at my expense. "All out. No time limit. That should be simple enough for even you to understand, eh, Greenhorn?"

"I hear you!" I shouted back.

My hand flew for the Pokeball at my waist. I threw it into the makeshift arena. It opened in a burst of white light and then bounded back to me. Of course, I _had _to misjudge the catch and the returning Pokeball hit me straight on the bridge of my nose! Cursing to myself and my cheeks soon matching the colour my nose went, I returned the ball and focused on the battle.

This was to be my first proper Pokemon battle. And I wasn't ready to lose!

* * *

**Author's Note**

**Yay! Finally some action! **

**I don't really know what to say. The chapter's self-explanatory! **

**Apologies to my regular reviewer Arrow's flight as Sienna STILL hasn't caught her own Pokemon! I **_**promise **_**she will in the chapter following the conclusion of the "Green and Black Boy" I finally decided what Pokemon she should get, so it is coming very soon!**


	8. The Green and Black Boy Part II

"A Mareep, eh?" I heard the boy in black and green say over the slight whistle of the wind. "Interesting starter Pokemon, isn't it?"

"Yeah, well, what can I say? I'm unique!" I commented snidely. His holier-than-thou attitude was really starting to grate on my nerves. "Just get on with it."

"My pleasure!"

With a swish of his long billowing trenchcoat, he made a big deal of turning around and dramatically pointing in the direction of the battlefield. I watched him in a mixture of repulsion and embarrassment. Did people seriously act the way they did on the cartoons in real life! How sad!

"Go! Jet! Take 'em down with Pursuit!"

"_Pursuit!_" It was a move I was unfamiliar with. "_What the hell is that_?"

"Um-breee-on!" Jet cried, suddenly running forward on its long legs.

I didn't know what was going to happen. And I'm pretty sure Meloi didn't either. So I did the only thing I could do. "Meloi! Brace yourself for what happens!"

"Ma-reeeep!"

The Pokemon came charging at Meloi. Meloi growled and suddenly, without even my order, began powering up a thundershock. However, within a split second, the Umbreon disappeared!

"What?" I gasped.

"Mar?"

I saw what happened next before Meloi did. The Umbreon suddenly reappeared right behind her! "Meloi!" I screamed. "Behind you! Dodge!"

But Meloi didn't turn around quick enough and as a result, took a direct hit. The force from the hit launched her into the air and she flew back the length of half the battlefield before hitting the ground.

"Meloi!" I called for her. "Are you okay?"

But Meloi wasn't a quitter. And I thank God for that, because neither am I. Within a few moments she was back on her feet, looking like she'd barely been hit. And what's more…she looked _mad. _

"Hah!" I cried triumphantly. "Whatever happened to "Jet can take down your Meloi in one move", eh?"

The boy growled to himself at the other end of the makeshift battlefield.

My turn!" I enthused. "All right Meloi! Let's show them what we can do! Use Thundershock now!"

"Thundershock!" I heard the boy taunting me. "Hah! You'll never hit me with that! Jet, get ready to dodge!"

"Breon! Umbreon!"

"Come on Meloi!" I cheered her on as her wool and ears crackled with electricity.

"Mareeeeep!" she cried, and without warning, fired a thick, extremely fast beam of blue electrical energy at the Umbreon.

I saw the boy's expression change. "Jet! Get out of the way!" he cried, with noticeably more panic in his voice.

Evidently, all the training Meloi and I had done with the trees had certainly paid off! Not to mention all the practice she had undergone shocking me every five seconds in the early stages of our relationship. Meloi's aim was dead on. And it packed a punch!

"Breeeeeon!" The Umbreon shrieked at the sheer power of the electrical shock that engulfed its body.

"Jet!" the black and green boy yelled at his Pokemon, sounding concerned as Meloi's electricity wore off. "Are you okay? Can you still battle?"

"Breeeon!" It said, determinedly getting onto all four paws again, and eyeing my Meloi with an almost hungry stare. I suddenly felt nervous.

"I guess I underestimated you," the boy was talking again, in his smooth, clean voice. The word "pretentious" came to my mind. "I guess you have a little more bite in you than I thought. And here's me thinking that you were all talk."

"Huh," I made out as if I didn't care and focused my attention back to the battle that was taking place. By now, a small number of people had gathered to watch us. I felt horribly nervous. It was bad enough that I had taken on what was likely an ace trainer for my very _first _Pokemon battle, but if I lost…I didn't want every man and his wife seeing me lose. Then again, if I _won _that snobby stuck up elitist would be _mortified _at losing in front of so many people.

The green and black boy, as I was calling him in my head now, was conscious of the audience and was starting to play up to them, while I watched on, feeling a fool.

"All right, Jet!" another dramatic swish of the coat and a bellowed instruction loud enough for the whole _city _to hear later, the battle resumed. "Let's use Quick Attack!"

With speed I thought couldn't be physically _possible_; the boy's Umbreon took off at a sprint towards Meloi. It was so quick it was almost like it was invisible. It flew towards Meloi, tearing up the earth, a white trail appearing behind it as it lunged for my Meloi. I didn't know what to do. My brain couldn't come up with any good strategies. I couldn't even yell at her to dodge. I just froze.

The Umbreon launched itself at Meloi and hit her straight in the stomach. I couldn't watch as she let out a heart wrenching howl of pain and got thrown across the battlefield, hitting the ground hard and skidding for a good few feet, before eventually slowing to a stop. She didn't get up again.

"Meloi!" I screeched, my heart in my mouth and I raced to her side. "Meloi!" I cried, desperately shaking her, trying to get a reaction from her, but she was completely out cold. Tears pricked at my eyes. "_I've let her down! Why couldn't I give her a proper instruction! Dammit! I'm so stupid!_"

I looked up, fully expecting to see the boy in black and green celebrating his victory, but he was standing close by, nonchalantly stroking his Umbreon.

"Get her to the Pokemon centre," he said stoically.

"Don't worry, I will!" I snarled, but at the same time feeling a tear escape and rolling down my cheek. I wiped it furiously. "You can count on that!"

I recalled Meloi to her Pokeball and took off in the direction of the Pokemon centre, still furiously wiping my tears. I wordlessly handed over my Pokeball to Nurse Joy, who looked shocked at my sudden return and horrified at my obvious upset.

"Oh, my Goodness! Are you okay?" she asked me, concerned.

"I…I lost a battle…" I sniffed, not making eye contact with her. "My _first _battle."

"Aww, you poor thing…" she sympathized, slotting Meloi's Pokeball under the desk to be healed. "Don't worry! It's always a hard thing to take, losing for the first time. But it'll get easier soon enough and you'll be winning battles no problem."

"No! No I won't!" I said insistently, remembering what a total mess I had been in the battle, not even being able to order my Pokemon to get out of danger. "I couldn't _do _anything…I just froze! I didn't know what to do! I'm a useless Pokemon trainer!" I couldn't even look Nurse Joy in the face anymore and I tore myself away to sit on the sofa.

I tried to pull myself together. I mean, what's one loss, right? Everyone loses! And surely almost _every _rookie trainer loses their first battle, surely? That's why they're called rookies, isn't it? And besides, the green and black boy was probably some kind of elite trainer. Probably _way _out of my league.

So why did I feel so goddamn upset that I lost?

I knew why. I had let Meloi down. I had let her get hurt. And I couldn't do anything to help her. What kind of a trainer was I to let her own Pokemon get hurt?

"Hey, greenhorn."

I looked up through blurred vision to see the green and black boy standing over me. I sniffed fiercely. "What do you want? Come to gloat, have you?"

"Not exactly," he said. He held something out to me. It was a can of lemonade from the vending machine "As consolation. For a good battle. Take it."

I was a little taken aback, to say the least. I accepted the can from him, suddenly realising how thirsty I was. I took a long sip of the tangy, refreshing juice and felt somewhat better. The green and black boy took a seat near me, Jet, his Umbreon leaping onto his lap. Although the boy had just been nice and civil towards me, even buying me lemonade from his own money, his attitude from earlier was still circling my brain, and I wasn't exactly pleased to have him sitting so near me. Especially when I was still upset.

"I have to admit…" the boy suddenly started speaking. "I was surprised to see how well your Meloi handled herself in battle. Her thundershock impressed me."

"What are you talking about?" I asked him thickly. "I _lost._"

"You don't always have to win to make a good impression. That was your first battle, wasn't it?"

"Yeah! So what? Everyone has to start somewhere."

"No, no, that's not what I meant." He said, shaking his head. "I knew it was your first battle because of how upset you got when you lost."

"So, is it a crime to be emotional?"

"You misunderstand me, kid." He sighed. "When you first start out, losing is a big deal. When you get to be my level…you just see losing as a part of a learning curve. A little bit of a change in scenery."

"Pfft!" I snorted. "Shut up. Quit acting like a know-it-all. You're not impressing anyone. Certainly not me."

The boy made a noise that could have been a laugh, but probably wasn't. "You've got some spunk, kid."

"Don't call me "kid"!" I fumed. That annoyed me even more than "greenhorn"! "I'm fifteen years old, for goodness sake!"

The boy looked at me. "Wait…you're fifteen?"

"Yeah!"

"But that…that means you're only a year younger than me!"

"Eh?" I looked at him in total shock. "You're only sixteen? But you look about twenty or something!"

He laughed. "See, that's a compliment. But you…you look about eleven. You're tiny."

"Well excuse me for being short!" I cursed my tiny 5'2 stature and my embarrassing lack of womanly features.

The boy laughed delightedly. I knew he probably stood at about 5'11 or even six foot tall, so he easily towered over me. He ruffled my short hair like I was a little puppy. "Aww…you're kinda cute."

"G….Get to hell off me!" I yelped, mortified.

"Whoops! Sorry, _greenhorn._" He grinned, taking his hand off my head.

"And stop calling me "greenhorn" and "kid" while you're at it!" I said, trying to be as fierce as possible. "My name is _Sienna_! Remember it!"

"All right, all right, chill!" he laughed, holding his hands up in mock innocence.

"_What is the deal with this guy?_" I thought to myself furiously. "_He's a worse Jekyll and Hyde than Meloi was! All arrogant and pompous one minute, and then laughing and joking with me like we were freakin' best friends!_"

"Anyway, Senna, was it?"

"_Sienna!_"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." He shrugged, like he didn't really care and stood up and began making his way across the lobby. "I think I better be going. I've got people to meet, places to be, Gym Leaders to annihilate. I'll be catching ya later. Come back and challenge me in a few years. When you might actually have a chance."

"Hey, genius!" I called after him.

"What?" he said, turning round to face me.

"Gonna tell me your name?" I laughed. "Just to tell you, I'm not that good at remembering people's faces."

He shot me a wry smile. In that light, he actually looked pretty handsome, I had to admit. "It's Elliot. _Remember it_."

"Elliot?" I repeated to myself. "Wait…_Elliot_!" Something about that name struck a chord with me. I thought about the name as a pair with his face, and something let off a tiny flare in the back of my mind. I looked at his face again, squinting, trying to imagine what he looked like younger. He was eyeing me, confused at my sudden interest in him. I didn't care, I was trying to concentrate. Could this arrogant kid really be who I thought he was? If his skin lost a little of that natural tan from being outside all the time, if his eyes lost that almond shape and were more rounded with childishness, if those trendy black glasses were replaced with huge round ones…Yes! I had it! But there was no way…There was absolutely no way! Was there?

"Elliot _Wood_?" His full name came to me in a flash and I couldn't help but yell it out in excitement. "You're Elliot Wood?"

"Ah, so you have heard of me, after all?" He grinned, tossing his brown hair behind him in a dramatic, self-important gesture. I couldn't tell if this was put on or if he was actually being serious.

I didn't have time to consider it though. This was _huge_! I actually _recognised _this guy! I knew who he was! But he had changed so much…it was no wonder I hadn't recognised him the second I saw him.

"No, you idiot, I haven't _heard _of you!" I grinned, suddenly excited. "I _knew _you! Way back when you were about ten years old! You and I were neighbours in Pallet Town! Remember? You were all geeky back then! Your glasses practically took up your whole fa—ACK!"

Suddenly Elliot's strong hand had clamped itself over my mouth. "Shhhhhh!" He hissed. "I'd appreciate it if you kept that to yourself!"

"Aww, but you were cute back then!" I grinned.

What I had said was true. I really did know this kid from way back. And he was cute. All the picture of innocence, you know? His glasses really were too big for his face. And he was a geek. Always lugging around huge Pokemon trainer manuals and wearing geeky looking sweaters with Pikachus on them, and hiding out in the long grass on Route 1 looking for Pidgey or Caterpie. Needless to say, he was the first of the rookies that year to sign up for a Pokemon and leave on his journey. And wow…what a different person he was now.

He blushed furiously, but tried to pass it off by being all macho. "Hey! Men do not appreciate being called "cute", you know? E…especially not tough Pokemon trainers like me!"

"Oh, come off it!" I scoffed. ""Men"? You're only sixteen!"

"I've built up a nice reputation for myself and I don't need you destroying that with one sentence!" He didn't sound angry, more embarrassed.

"Oh, forget that!" I grinned. "Who's gonna hear? A couple of rookie trainers who don't know who you are _anyway_ and a Pokemon nurse? Come off it!" I laughed, looking at him in total shock. "I can't believe you're that little geeky kid that used to be my neighbour!"

"And…and you must be that kid whose dad ran all those Pokemon dojos!" Realisation spread across Elliot's face as he finally figured out who I was. "He was an awesome trainer! A real powerhouse!"

My face visibly fell as he said that. Was I doomed to live my life known from my dad's preceding reputation? Was I just gonna be "that kid whose dad owned all those Pokemon dojos" for the rest of my life?

"Hey…" He suddenly looked at me. "I remember…didn't you say when we were kids that you _never _wanted to be a trainer? Didn't you always used to tease me and bully me and say wanting to be a Pokemon trainer was stupid?"

"I might have done…" I mumbled. I knew what was coming next.

"So why have you all of a sudden decided to become a trainer?"

"Circumstances." Was my short, curt reply.

"Okaaaay…" Elliot said slowly. "What circumstances?"

"_Honestly? Are all men this thick or is it just him? Can't he see I don't want to talk about it?"_

"Just…circumstances. I don't wanna talk about it."

"Sure you do. Come on. I wanna know."

I was so grateful when at that point the Nurse Joy at the desk suddenly called for the trainer with the Mareep. I collected her thankfully, while at the same time assuring her that I really was all right now and had gotten over my "upset".

Of course, after turning away from the desk, I was faced again with Elliot. I jumped, not expecting him to be so close. "Elliot…" I said patiently.

"I wanna know what made you become a trainer. You were so against becoming a trainer when we were kids. They must be some special circumstances."

"They _are._ And I _don't _want to talk about it."

"God…you're a hard nut to crack, aren't you?" he laughed good-naturedly, but at this point I was beyond caring. In fact he was seriously starting to annoy me and I wanted to get rid of him. "Come on, tell me!"

"No!" I couldn't help myself and I snapped at him. "I said I don't walk to talk about it! It…it's too…it's too…upsetting for me, okay?"

His expression softened at once. His eyebrows furrowed together and he shifted awkwardly from foot to foot. "Sorry…" he said sheepishly.

"No, it's okay…" I said, clipping Meloi's Pokeball to my waist. "I…If you really wanna know…" I gave in and sighed. "It's my mum. She's disappeared."

"Disappeared?"

"Yeah. Remember my dad? The so called "awesome powerhouse"?"

He nodded.

"Yeah. Him. He left us a few years ago. Can't really remember why. But I was happy when he left. I hated him... Anyway, long story short, woke up about a week ago and mum had just left. She left me a note though. Telling me she'd gone after some incident in Hoenn that my dad was involved in. I couldn't just let her go by herself so I…"

"You got yourself a Pokemon to see if you could help her." Elliot finished for me. He let out a long sigh. "Jeez…I'm sorry I pushed you so hard. If I'd known…"

"Hey, it's no big deal." I tried to airily shrug it off, but I don't think I fooled him.

"Listen Sienna…" He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I'd like to help you."

I frowned. "Help me?"

"Yeah. I mean, I can't do anything _too _amazing. I can't take you to Hoenn. I can't even take you to Vermillion so you can get to Hoenn yourself. But I _can_ take you to the next city; Cerulean City free of charge. And at least you won't have to climb over Mt Moon by yourself cos I know that'd take ages. I mean, I can't do much else but I c—hey!"

I think he was more than a little surprised when I suddenly hugged him. He was way taller than me, so I ended up hugging him around the stomach and lower chest area. "Th…thank you!" I said, and I meant it with every breath. "Thank you!"

"Hey, it's no problem…" He grinned, gently prising me off him. "It's not really that much…but I'd like to help…"

"Oh, you have no idea!" I enthused. "Do you know how difficult it would have been for me to get through that thing? I spent almost half a day trying to get through Viridian Forest! And I'd be at a type disadvantage there too! You have no idea how happy this makes me! And how much _easier_!"

He looked a little taken aback at the fact that something so easily done for him was so beneficial for me. "Okay, then. I guess that's settled."

"Yes!" I grinned happily. But then a thought struck me. "Umm, Elliot? How _exactly _are we gonna get to Cerulean city?"

A wicked grin spread across his face. "Come outside and find out! You are gonna _love_ this, greenhorn!"

* * *

**Author's Note**

**Whew! I had fun with these two chapters. Its the official end of the Green and Black Boy arc, but he has a pretty big role in the next chapter too. And upcoming chapters. However, I don't think I'll be going down the romance route. Well, I don't know. We'll see where it goes. But I doubt it.**

**Only thing is, these chapters have been pretty talky. Bleh. I like writing dialogue, it's fun and all, but it takes up so much space and time. **

**Please read and review! Don't be shy! Reviews make me happy and makes me write faster! Thank you!**


	9. Greenhorn and the Geek

Elliot led me outside with the eagerness of a seven year old kid in a toy shop. I was slightly apprehensive at exactly _how _we were going to travel all the way to Cerulean City. I had checked the route on my Pokedex one time when I was still camping on Route 2, and had discovered the presence of the huge Mt. Moon. Rookie trainers like me didn't have much choice but to battle their way through the mountain if they wanted to reach Cerulean City, and it was one of the (many) things I had been dreading. I imagined lots of tough rock and ground Pokemon lived in there…all those Pokemon I hated with a vengeance…

"So…what's the deal here? Are we hitching a ride on the back of a Pokemon?" I asked as Elliot fumbled with the Pokeballs at his waist.

"Kind of," he said. "We're travelling in _style_."

"Yeah, listen I don't mean to be rude or anything," I cut in. "But surely if we're riding on the back of a Pokemon, it'll take us almost the same amount of time to get to Cerulean City as if we were walking? Not to mention all the battles we'd probably get challenged to."

"Yes, but we're not travelling on the ground." He finally found the Pokeball he was looking for and he tossed it to the ground in front of him. The Pokeball exploded in white light. "We're travelling by _air_!"

"Air!" I gasped in shock as I saw our ride.

What looked like an orange bipedal dragon stood in the place of Elliot's Pokeball. Its arms and legs were topped by huge claws; in the centre of its forehead was a horn, an S shaped antenna on its head, and a pair of tiny green wings I knew to increase in size when in flight. Now, remember, I don't know much about Pokemon. But I knew this Pokemon all right. And I couldn't _believe _Elliot had one.

"It's a Dragonite!" I breathed out in awe.

"Got it in one, greenhorn!" Elliot grinned, giving the Dragonite a friendly pat on the head, and it roared appreciatively. At this point, I saw a number of locals stop and stare at the rare Pokemon just standing in the middle of the road.

"Where did you _get _him?" I asked, daring to reach up and touch the Dragonite to make sure it was real. That turned out to be a lot harder, considering Dragonites are taller than most humans. And considering I was so short…

"Well, he's not really mine." Elliot shrugged. "He's actually my brother's."

I frowned. That was news to me. "You have a brother?"

He nodded. "Yeah. He's way older though. He's also a bit of a Dragon type nut. I can't say I'm a fan of Dragon types myself."

"So why do you have him?"

"I'm exercising him," Elliot explained. "I've been going from city to city collecting the Gym Badges and its so much easier flying than walking everywhere. So, big brother gave me Dragonite to get around on."

I thought about it. Flying around did seem like a pretty cool way to travel. You could travel without distraction and feel free and calm while you did it. A perfectly relaxing way to travel. You didn't have to crawl through mud, or pick your way through forests or swim the lengths of the oceans. You could just fly straight over the obstacles. It sounded heavenly. But then I _really _thought about it. How much would you miss being up there in the air all the time? How many interesting people would you miss? How many Pokemon? How many awesome experiences? I still stand by my insistence that being a Pokemon trainer is the last thing I want to do with my life. Come on, my life's ambition is to be a chef, for god's sake. But thanks to some intervention by fate, I ended up being a trainer. And if I was gonna have to be a trainer; I'd rather get the full experience out of it. I'd like to meet new people and new Pokemon. I'd like to get strong and see how Meloi gets stronger. And not just to beat my dad into the ground. Although that is a major part of it.

Fate sure is a fickle friend Yup, the girl who swore never to be a trainer became a trainer. And you know what? It's not as bad as I thought.

I snapped myself back into the present. "Isn't flying around all the time up there by yourself awfully lonely?"

Elliot opened his mouth to reply, but he suddenly hesitated. "I…" He looked at Dragonite who bayed happily, probably excited at being out in the open. "I…" he faltered again, and then looked at me. His face spread into a grin. "C…Course not! I'm _never _lonely! I've got all my awesome Pokemon with me!"

I knew he was lying.

But I didn't pursue it. "So…your Pokemon? What types do you have? I bet you have like all the best kinds! Like a team totally protected against every disadvantage."

Elliot laughed nervously. "Well, not quite. I work with a more…specialised team."

"Meaning…?"

"Discounting the Dragonite I've got on loan here," Elliot chucked his thumb over his shoulder at the Dragonite. "My team consists of a grand total of two types."

"TWO?" I think I may have deafened both him and the Dragonite with my stunned outburst. "Bu…bu…bu….but doesn't that leave you wide open to loads of weaknesses?"

"Yeah. It does." Elliot said as if it didn't bother him. "But that's the challenge in it. Overcoming the really apparent weaknesses and working to find ways around them…that's what I like about Pokemon." A sparkle appeared in his eyes as he spoke. It was clear this was something he really was passionate about. "Things aren't as black and white as you think when it comes to type matchups. That's why Gym Leaders normally only raise one type of Pokemon. Because they've worked so hard to _overcome _the weaknesses. I really admire Gym Leaders for that."

"Wow…" I said to myself softly. I cleared my throat loudly. There was still something I wanted to know. "So…what types do you raise?"

"What? Can you not guess?" Elliot asked with a grin as his Umbreon, Jet, leapt into his arms. "Jet's a Dark type, right? So I raise Dark types. I love the mystery about them and how different the Dark type moves are to the other moves. But they're notoriously difficult to train, _definitely _not a good choice for an amateur like yourself, greenhorn."

"Uh-huh…" I listened, choosing to ignore the "greenhorn" gripe.

"And the other type is the Grass type."

"Grass?" I repeated, not able to hide the disgust in my voice. I had recently discovered that I _hated _the Grass type. That was another addition to add to my expanding hate list (already consisting of Rock, Fighting, Ground, Bug and Steel). After putting some careful consideration into what Pokemon could be good to supplement my team, I had once considered the Grass type. Reading up on them proved a dire experience and I decided at once that I _hated _the Grass type. From what I'd read they were horribly weak at first and would take months of training to strengthen them or evolve them, and I knew I didn't have that time to waste. Added to that, I knew some of them had things like Stun Spore or Sleep Powder, or even worse _Poison Powder, _and considering Meloi's track record for attacking me, her trainer, I didn't fancy dealing with anything as nasty as _that._

"What's the matter with the Grass type?" Elliot asked, defensively.

I shrugged. "Just…not my ideal type."

"Aw, come on!" he tried to gesture emphatically, but he remembered at the last moment he was still holding Jet in his arms. "The Grass types are awesome! What other types of Pokemon can steal energy from other Pokemon and use it to heal themselves? Or use things like Stun Spore or Sleep Powder to end a battle without ever having to land a hit!"

"Yeah, I'll take your word for it…" I said, crossing my arms.

It was then I noticed something. Something so apparent I was surprised I hadn't noticed it before now. I studied Elliot's attire once more. A perfect co-ordination of black and green. Black and Green. Black and Green? Dark and...

"Hahahahaha!" I suddenly started laughing, just as Elliot was preparing to mount his on-loan Dragonite, startling him. He fell straight off in his fright, which just made me laugh even more!

"Wh…wh…what it is?" he asked nervously looking at me. I had now gone beyond laughing and was aware that I was making a strange honking noise like a goose at my sudden realisation.

"Your…clothes!" I managed to choke out. "Your clothes!"

"What about my clothes?" he gasped, looking himself up and down searching for imaginary stains or rips. "What's wrong with them!"

"They match! You've matched your clothes to the types of Pokemon you train!" I let out one final crazed bout of laughter, and then descended into fits of girly giggles, whilst a shocking red blush appeared on Elliot's face.

"S…so what if I do? It's fashion!"

I couldn't help the second bout of giggles that came of Elliot's embarrassed declaration. "Oh, it's fashion, is it? Oh come on! Hah! You put more thought into your outfit than most women do in a lifetime! Are you sure you're not gay or something?"

"NO!" He screeched, admittedly, in a very high-pitched voice, but I think that had more to do with embarrassment than anything else. "_Trust _me; I am not g…g…" He couldn't even say the word and to compensate, he grabbed my arm and steered me near to Dragonite. I didn't resist, as I was still shaking with laughter. "C…come on! We should be going! Come on, climb on here! Let's go!"

Flying turned out to be an exhilarating, exciting, refreshing and utterly terrifying way of travel. I think I screamed the whole of the first five minutes of the journey. Once I eventually calmed down and dared to look over the Dragonite's massive bulk, I was amazed. And terrified. But mostly amazed. It was like looking down on a tiny child's play set, every detail was perfect, nothing much bigger than a grain of sand. Below us the brilliant greens and the muddy browns of the terrain interlocked in giant slabs of colour. Ahead of us, Mt Moon loomed ominously. I tightened my grip around Elliot's slim waist as we prepared to ascend over it.

The rhythmic beat of Dragonite's wings soothed my somewhat agitated spirit as we began gaining height. I was comfortable cruising at a lower altitude, but we had rapidly picked up speed as we started to ascend. I squeaked as everything below us turned into a mishmash of blurred colours and the peak ahead of us loomed, getting bigger and bigger as we got closer and closer. And then suddenly, we had cleared it in one sudden burst of speed!

Elliot cheered, raising his arms to catch the whistling wind. I stayed stationary; my eyes squeezed shut as we suddenly began the descent. A _rapid _descent. I felt my stomach churn unpleasantly as my whole body was dipped forward. I screamed the entire way down. I felt like I had been stuck on a rollercoaster!

But thankfully, it only lasted a minute or two and I felt the judder of the ground beneath us as Dragonite touched down. Elliot leaped off, but I stayed suctioned to him, suddenly frozen.

"Wasn't that _awesome_!" he cheered. "Sienna?"

"Y…yeah…" my mouth didn't seem connected to my brain properly.

"Come on!" He beamed. "We're just outside of Cerulean City! I'll walk you down there!"

"Uh-huh…." I croaked.

"Ah…first time flyer, aren't you?" He grinned, suddenly realising.

"Whatever gave you that idea…?" I tried to swing my leg off Dragonite, but they stayed rooted to the spot on either side of his massive flank.

"All right, I'll help ya,"

Elliot's idea of "help" mainly consisted of tugging at me until my legs un-froze and I slid unceremoniously down the Dragonite's tail and landed on my backside in the dirt.

"There you go!" he stood back, admiring his handiwork. "Wasn't that fun?"

I managed to muster up some more enthusiasm. "Yeah! It _was _fun! But it was _terrifying _too!"

"Ah, you get used to that! You're living life on the edge when you're flying!"

I accepted the offer of a hand up to my feet and stood on wobbly legs for a few minutes, before I dared to stagger forward for a few steps. After satisfied I had the feeling back in them, and I wasn't randomly gonna collapse, Elliot recalled Dragonite and we started on the short walk to Cerulean City.

I decided to let Meloi out of her Pokeball for a while to allow her some fresh air. She wasn't exactly fond of being in her Pokeball all the time, and I didn't often keep her in there, as I liked the company. At the same time, Elliot decided to let Jet, his Umbreon out of his ball for the walk too.

But as you can probably guess, Meloi was still stinging from her loss at the hands of Jet the Umbreon and made no secret in voicing this.

"Meloi!" I said, exasperated as sparks began to fly from Meloi's striped ears. "I don't think you should be doing tha—OW!"

Obviously not impressed with my lecture on how she could and couldn't behave, Meloi zapped me with a bolt of electricity to show me _exactly _what she thought of my interfering. She then zapped Jet the Umbreon who was minding his own business, licking his fur, and then shocked Elliot for good measure when he opened his mouth to protest.

"Owww…." Elliot moaned with pain, flat on his back, whilst Jet lay on its front, slightly smoking and twitching. I stood sheepishly with my hands behind my back. I had some kind of immunity to Meloi's shocks now, but I forgot not everyone did.

"Sorry," I apologised meekly, trying to haul Elliot to his feet, which was difficult as he was almost twice as tall as me, and at _least _twice my weight. "Meloi doesn't really know the meaning of "good sportsmanship", I'm afraid. She's a little…" I struggled for the right word, before I remembered what Professor Oak had called her. "…spirited?"

"It's okay…" Elliot wheezed, as he picked up Jet and we continued on to Cerulean City, Meloi trotting beside me proudly, her head held high, satisfied with what she thought as "one-upping" Elliot and Jet.

"But seriously, with an electrical power as strong as that, you should challenge the Gym Leader here." Elliot said, as he helped me clamber over a short ledge. Well, it was short for _him_. "The Gym Leader here uses nothing but Water types. You'd be at an extreme advantage and you'd get loads of experience."

"I think Meloi's got all the experience she needs." I commented dryly, watching her effortlessly leap over the ledge I had so much trouble clambering over. "And I'm not all that interested in Gym Battles. Besides, I need to put all my energy into catching a Pokemon of my own. I want a water type."

"Oh, well you're in luck, then!" Elliot said cheerily as we came into the main body of Cerulean City. "This place is built right next to the sea! You'll find _plenty _of Pokemon here!"

I took a deep breath in and immediately my tongue was salted with the smell and the taste of the sea. It was refreshing and invigorating. The whole place smelled fresh! The sun beat down, a glowing disc in the flawless blue sky. I knew I loved this place as soon as I set foot in it. I could even see myself _living _here.

"Aaaaah…" Elliot breathed in deeply and appreciatively. "I love Cerulean City. It's been quite some time since I've been here. Not since I beat the Gym Leader almost a year ago."

I looked at him, frowning. "Wait. You _beat _the Gym Leader here?"

"Yeah." He said airily, as if it was no big deal. "I've beaten _all _the Gym Leaders here. Well, bar one. But that's only because he's not back until next week. But once I beat him, I'm gonna challenge the Elite Four."

"What? Seriously?" I asked, somewhat shocked. I know I'd said I wasn't interested in fighting the Elite Four or the Gym Leaders, but I was still impressed nonetheless. Elliot was a far better trainer than I'd given him credit for. He sounded so sure of winning at the last gym. "You're seriously gonna take on the Elite Four?

"Yup!" he said lightly. "But I don't think I'll win."

That surprised me. "Why not?"

"Cos the Elite Four are just so…strong!" He said, and I almost thought I caught some bitterness in his voice. "It takes one hell of a trainer to take them down. I mean, if you think the Gym Leaders are strong…the Elite Four are in a whole different _league._ They're more than just a cut above the rest."

"Don't be modest." I said as he led me across the city, Meloi and Jet following at our heels. We seemed to be heading to a bridge over a stretch of crystal clear blue water. "I'm sure you're a great trainer."

"I'm not being modest." He said seriously. "There are trainers out there far _far _superior to me. But if I even want a _chance _at beating the Elite Four and becoming Champion one day, I need to become a better trainer." He suddenly looked at me, blushing slightly. "Oh, listen to me. I'm going on and on about stuff like this that you don't even care about. You're training Pokemon for a more noble reason than me…you actually wanna help someone. I just wanna beat other people and get strong…"

"No, no…" I cut in. "I understand…that's your dream, isn't it? To be Champion? I understand dreams….And, I'm not exactly raising Pokemon for "noble" purposes, like you think. I'm doing it to beat my dad. I'm doing it for…" I couldn't think of the right word. I eventually settled for "revenge".

"But to save your mum!" he pointed out.

I shrugged. "It's six and half a dozen really."

He smiled wanly at me, and then turned to look at the water. We had stopped midway across the bridge. Jet jumped onto his shoulder and he patted his Pokemon lovingly. I wasn't sure if I should say anything. Or do anything. From beside me, Meloi baaed for attention, but I ignored her.

"Anyway…" he suddenly turned to face me. "My job here is done. I brought you to Cerulean. I need to do some more training before I head back to Viridian. This is the perfect place for you to catch that water Pokemon you want." He indicated the glittering sea in front of us.

"Oh…" I said, suddenly realising that he was going to leave. I had mixed feelings about that. I knew it was best for him to go, he had his own priorities to attend to and I had mine. I had an important job to do. I had to go after my _mum_! I had to get all the way to Hoenn! I couldn't do that with any distractions! It wouldn't work anyway…Elliot and I had two completely different paths to follow. We couldn't travel together. It just wouldn't work.

I knew all that. But I still felt horribly sad. I could've gotten used to having someone who wasn't a Pokemon travelling with me. Someone I could actually talk to and hold a conversation with. A _human_ conversation. And Elliot was strong, too! If I got in trouble, he could help! Even Meloi was getting used to Elliot, and even as I thought that, she accepted a pink berry from his pocket. He would have been perfect to travel with…

I couldn't say anything as Elliot released his on-loan Dragonite, and he mounted the dragon Pokemon's massive bulk. Even Jet, in a couple of lithe, light movements, leapt onto the Dragonite's head, eager for lift off.

"I'll see you around, all right?" Elliot said.

"Yeah." I croaked, finding it more of a struggle to speak than I thought. "I…I'll hold you to that."

"Once I finish my Gym Battle and all that I'll be coming back for a rematch." He grinned. "Hopefully you might have a better chance then."

"You can count on it!" I managed to muster up a little enthusiasm, trying to kid on I wasn't as upset as I was. "I'll take pleasure in beating you into the ground just as soon as I'm done with my dad!"

"I'll look forward to it," His emerald green eyes met mine and he beamed, sending a strange little shudder down my spine. "I'll see you around."

At that word, Dragonite slowly lifted into the air, flapping its now enlarged wings. Meloi looked up at Elliot on the back of Dragonite, confused.

"Mareep! Mar!" She said, panicking slightly.

"Say goodbye to Elliot and Jet!" I told her, trying to keep my voice as light and cheerful as I could. I knew he could still hear me, even though he was rising ever higher into the sky.

"Mareep! Ma! Maareep!" Meloi called after Jet and Elliot.

"See you, Meloi!" Elliot waved, and even Jet waved one of his tiny paws. "Bye!"

I turned on my heel to start walking, assuming that they were starting their flight path, when I suddenly heard Elliot's voice.

"Hey! Hang on a second!"

"What?" I shouted back. I could barely see him now, he was just a little speck in the distance, but I could still hear him. I thank Goodness that the bridge was more-or-less devoid of life otherwise they'd probably think this was the soppy ending to some cheesy romance movie…

I could _hear _the wicked grin in his voice as he shouted back. "You know, you're still a greenhorn! Nothing changes that!"

"Yeah? And you're still a geek!" I raised my voice even louder, just in _case _someone was around. I couldn't help a smile tugging at the corner of my mouth.

I heard him laughing at that. "See you later, Greenhorn!"

"Catch you later, Geek!" I waved one last time before he and his on-loan Dragonite disappeared from sight. I watched them go, feeling all of a sudden very lonely and sad. Even Meloi drooped, which I found unusual as she had hated Elliot and Jet at first.

"It's okay," I told her, kneeling down to ruffle her curls. "We'll see them again someday. They've got a job to do. And we've got a very important mission to do too."

I had a lot of things to do if I wanted to get to Hoenn soon. Number one on my highly expanding To-Do List: Catching my very first Pokemon.

I looked at the shifting blue water behind me that Elliot had told me contained my oh-so-desired Water type Pokemon. Somehow I got the feeling that this was going to be a _very _difficult ordeal…

* * *

**Author's Note**

**Wow...sorry for the delay with this chapter. I normally try and do two chapters a day, one in the early afternoon, one late at night. It's now early evening and I'm only putting up the first chapter. Looks like I've been slacking...**

**I feel a little silly. Did anyone else understand the Jet = Jet black reference in "The Green and Black Boy" Part I or was it just apparant in my crazy mind?**

**Again, thanks to my regular reviewers, especially Syzdoth for the latest review! Your compliments, suggestions and ideas have been really helpful and are appreciated! And thanks to new reader/reviewer far out there! **

**Also, I have decided to draw Sienna and Meloi after I finish the next chapter! Watch my magajin profile (on my homepage) for the drawing coming soon!**

**Please keep reviewing! They make all this hard work worthwhile!**


	10. An Old Man and His Spheal

I still was feeling a little sorry for myself after having to say goodbye to Elliot, Jet, and Dragonite, but I had to pull myself together! I had a job to do! I had to find new Pokemon and strengthen my team! Vermillion was still a long way away, and Hoenn was even farther. It was nothing short of a minor miracle I managed to make it _this _far without any more additions to the team. I had heard of _rookies _that were carrying six Pokemon around with them.

So, I needed a new addition. I needed it fast. So, I started by exploring the water at the end of the bridge. There were a few heated battles between trainers taking place up ahead, but I wasn't that interested. Instead, I crouched at the river's edge, peering deep into the murky waters, expecting to see hundreds upon hundreds of Pokemon crawling or swimming deep underwater. But to my disappointment, all I saw was mud. Mud and weeds. My stomach churned unexpectedly and I had to back away. I had forgotten I was somewhat nervous around deep water.

"Bah!" I grunted in disappointment, falling back into a sitting position, whilst Meloi looked on, somewhat confused.

"Hey, kid!"

I hadn't noticed before, but there was an old man sitting at the bridge. He had a shock of white hair and a huge beard. He was fishing. "A…are you talking to me?" I called.

"Yeah!" the man had a rough, course way of speaking. "If ye wanna go catchin' water Pokemon, ye need a fishin' rod!"

"A fishing rod?" I stood up. "Wh…where would I get one of them?"

"Gotta buy 'em off specialists," the man said, tossing his lure back into the water. "And I warn ye, if you wanna good one, they don't come cheap."

I let out a groan. Really! Seriously? Was this happening? Thank you, universe. Thank you for throwing another huge block in my path. No-one told me you needed a freakin' fishing road to catch water Pokemon!

"And even if ye could get a fishin' rod, yer wasting your time fishin' round 'ere." The man said, half-heartedly casting his lure out further. "Ain't many good catches been seen around 'ere for a long time…I should know, I've been fishin' here for twenty odd years."

"So…the Pokemon here aren't that good?" I asked, feeling what little enthusiasm I had left slip away with that devastating news.

"Not unless yer content wi' hundreds o' Krabby or Magikarp or Horsea!" he said.

I didn't know what a Krabby or a Horsea was, but I did know what a Magikarp was. Possibly the weakest Pokemon in the world that evolved into the probably one of the strongest. If this was other circumstances, I would be tempted to catch a Magikarp and train it up into Gyarados. But I didn't have that kind of time. I needed a Pokemon that would get strong quickly!

"So…there really aren't any strong Water type Pokemon around here?" I asked the old man as I walked over to him, Meloi keeping to my heels.

"None." The old man said. He then looked at me. Now that I was closer, I saw this old man in a new light. His eyes were a brilliant sea blue, and just by looking at them, I could tell they were eyes that had seen many things, been through many experiences, both good and bad, in his many years. His face had the texture of leather, like it had been weather beaten by many years at sea…

"Why ye so keen on gettin' a water Pokemon anyway?" he asked.

"I only have one Pokemon," I indicated Meloi next to me. "I need a Pokemon that's strong against the types she's weak to."

The old man nodded. He then looked at Meloi, who was backing away slightly in the (scary) face of this new stranger. "A Mareep, eh? Ye don't see many of them 'round this region…" He reached his hand out to touch her.

"No! No!" I gasped. "Don't do that!"

I was too late. Meloi didn't like strangers at the best of times and for whatever reason, she definitely did _not _like this old man. The poor old guy got the best of her thundershock ability whilst I stood there in shame.

"Meloi!" I scolded her, trying to drag her away from the old man, forgetting all the static that had built up in her body and getting myself paralyzed in the process.

The old man didn't look too bothered by receiving an electric shock and just laughed it off. "Don't worry about it. I've been shocked by electric types more times than I can count. Haha! Ye know, kiddo? If ye get another Pokemon ye'll want to watch in case that ol' Mareep o' yer's don't get jealous!"

"I don't think it'll really matter," I said sadly, finally recovering from Meloi's paralysis attack. "I don't think I'll _ever _catch a Pokemon of my own."

"Ah, don't take that attitude kiddo," the old man laughed. "Catchin' Pokemon ain't rocket science."

"Hmph…" I snorted. "I can't just catch any old Pokemon and raise it; I need something that gets strong _fast_! I don't have time to train up a baby water Pokemon for months and months."

He laughed again. "Ah, kid. Ye remind me o' me when I was yer age."

"Eh?" I looked up at the old man.

"Yeah. When I was a kid, that's all I wanted to do. Catch strong Pokemon, win battles, get strong…all that stuff. Course, when ye look back on yer life afterwards, ye realise just how much o' yer life ye _wasted_ doin' just that."

I frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Well, ye catch Pokemon, ye battle 'em, ye train 'em, you spend all that time doin' all those worthless thing's that ye forget what life's all about."

"Which is?"

The old man shrugged. "I can't tell ye the meaning o' life, lass. But, see me? I found what _my_ life's all about. I was a hotshot trainer back in my day…but now I sail the seas with my water Pokemon. And I love it."

I gasped. "You're a water Pokemon trainer?"

"Got it in one, lass. That's how I know all about the water Pokemon _'ere_." He indicated the rippling waters in front of us. "I'll tell ye somethin', lass. Ye should get one of them "baby Pokemon" as ye described 'em. I think it'd do ye good. It's a humblin' thing, raising a Pokemon from when it's a little 'un."

"But…but I don't have the _time_!"

"Kid, you got a whole _year _till the next championships."

"It's not the championships I'm aiming for!" I insisted. "I have a totally different reason for wanting to train Pokemon. Heh. I didn't even _want _to be a trainer."

"I see…" the old man observed. "So what're ye doing all the way out here then if you didn't wanna be a trainer?"

I sighed. Why did everyone want to know my business? I eventually settled for "I'm looking for someone."

A hint of a smile came over the old man's weather beaten face. "Lookin' for someone. Got it, lass."

I let out a long sigh. "Listen, could I borrow your fishing rod?"

"My fishin' rod? Now what would you want a lend o' that for?"

"I'm thinking…that maybe you're right…." I said. "Maybe I should raise one of these baby Pokemon."

The old man smiled. "Attagirl. But, don't be concernin' yerself with the ones that live round 'ere. What you need is something a little more challengin'. Come wi' me, lass. I'll show ye somethin'."

The old man was up and on his feet before I could even contemplate what had just happened. I quickly got up and chased after him, finding him alarmingly fast on his feet for an old man. Meloi trotted along behind me, totally oblivious to what was going on.

* * *

The old man led us to a little house at the outskirts of Cerulean City. It looked like any normal house apart from the fact there was a huge, deep pool, practically taking up the entire of his back garden. I wasn't sure what I was here for. The old man had been so insistent I had come to his house for something, and the closer I got to his house, the more I was beginning to convince myself that this was a bad idea.

I needn't have worried though. When I came in to his house, I felt instantly at home. The place was lovely and cool and refreshing, the décor light and airy, mostly blue, though and lots of pictures of seafarers and also, some gold medals hanging on the wall. But the first thing I saw was the Pokemon.

His house was full of Pokemon. And not just any Pokemon. _Water _Pokemon! Most of them I didn't know, but the ones I did recognise, I was in awe of! He had the tiny turtle Pokemon Squirtle, also known as one of the three Kanto starters! There was a Pokemon that looked suspiciously like an orange octopus, a yellowy starfish like Pokemon sat in the kitchen sink, a rounded blue Pokemon that resembled a tadpole, a fat yellow duck Pokemon waddled around the living room carpet, holding its head in its paws. And there were so many more! I was completely taken aback! Meloi was too, and she was making a steady growling noise. I quietened her by tossing a few berries and then turned to the old man.

"Wow! You have so many Pokemon, sir!"

"I've been to every corner of this region and almost every corner o' the other regions too!" he chuckled. "But this isn't what I wanted to show ye. Come out the back."

I followed him out the back, whilst muttering furious threats to Meloi that if she even so much as _touched _one of the old man's Pokemon, she would be confined to her Pokeball for the rest of the day. Of course, she didn't find that an attractive idea and shocked me instead. Grimacing in the face of my "spirited" Pokemon's attitude, we went outside to be faced with even _more _Pokemon.

"Wow…" I breathed out in the face of these _very _unusual Pokemon.

What looked like two giant walruses were facing me and Meloi. The Pokemon were mostly blue in colour, with a blubbery body and two long yellow tusks. Their rounded heads were accented by what looked like sea foam around their thick necks in a strange mane-like formation. I flipped open my Pokedex and pointed the scanner at one of them.

"_Walrein, the Ice Break Pokemon. The two well-developed fangs can break a 10-ton iceberg with one hit. It can survive well in temperatures well below zero degrees with its thick layer of fat._"

"Awesome…" I said, looking up at the old man.

"Yup! Caught myself a pair of Sealeo when I was sailing around Sinnoh, brought 'em home and whaddya know? They evolved and I soon got mysel' a couple of cutie baby Spheals!" He whistled loudly and all of a sudden three tiny Pokemon leapt out of the pool. They looked like round baby seals.

My heart melted. They were so cute! Which is unusual for me, as I'm not normally one of those girls who scream "cuuuuuute!" at every little thing they see. They had powder blue fur, and were oddly rounded, had stubby ears, small tusks, beige flippers and a little flat tail. They rolled around comically, reminding me of balls, and they clapped their tiny little flippers appreciatively every now and again.

I pointed my Pokedex scanner at one of the rounded baby seals.

"_Spheal, the Clap Pokemon._ _Spheal moves more quickly by rolling than by walking. They are sometimes known to cross oceans atop icebergs._"

"They're so cute!" I squealed, despite myself. Meloi frowned at me and thought about shocking me for my sudden display of affection, but thought better of it. The threat of Pokeball confinement still weighed on her mind, I reckoned.

"Aren't they just?" the old man grinned. "And this, lass, is what I wanted ye to see."

"Aww, I want one!" I grinned as one of the Spheals came rolling up to me to investigate, not even frightened by the presence of a stranger and a potentially hostile Mareep. "Where did you say you got them?"

"Sinnoh."

"Where's that?"

"Another region."

"Oh, GOD!" I called out dramatically, sending a squeaking Spheal rolling back to its parents. "Thank you very much, Fate!" I shouted to the sky. "You just _looooove_ screwing me over, don't you?"

The old man smirked at my antics. "Listen, lass. I didn't bring you here just to _show _you them."

"Eh?" I was distracted from my "I defy you, stars!" Romeo and Juliet-esque moment. "You didn't?"

"Nope. I brought you here so ye can _catch _one."

"CATCH!" I gaped at him. "Are you serious?"

"Why not?" the old man looked at the three Spheals rolling around and playing with each other. "Once they evolve into Walrein, it'll be hell, lass. In the wild they live in packs, with the dominant male ruling them. Since two of the little 'un's here are boys, it'll cause some stress when they get bigger. I was gonna sell them off, but if one of them can go and help ye on your quest or whatever, I'd be happier. They're a dual Water and Ice type, so that should tide ye over!"

I was in total shock. I could barely speak. "M…mister…this is…"

"I know, lass, I know." He grinned.

"You're so generous! Thank you so much!"

"You're not getting 'em _free, _mind ye." He added. "I want ye to battle the one ye want. So I can see if yer a worthy trainer."

"Of…of course!" I said, almost bubbling with excitement. I was getting a Pokemon! A totally cute Pokemon that would evolve into something that looked as monstrous and as powerful as the Walrein! "B…but is it okay to separate them from their parents?" I asked him, a thought striking me.

"Yeah. They're young, but they're old enough to get out in the world. Go on, lass." He recalled the two Walrein in strange, blue Pokeballs, leaving the three baby Spheals still rolling around the garden.

I watched their movement patterns for a moment, trying to deduce which one would be better to attack. One of the Spheals rolled away from the pack, preferring to be on its own, often stopping to clap randomly at something unseen. I decided it would be much easier to take on the one separate from the other two. I mean, they were baby Pokemon, but they could still have some wicked attacks.

All the same, I didn't want to be too rough on the baby Spheals. "Meloi!" I said, calling her to action. "Use Thunder _Wave _on that baby Spheal there!" I made sure to put extra emphasis on the "wave" to make sure Meloi knew the distinction.

"Mareep!" She obliged with firing a weak thunder attack at the baby Spheal.

"Spheal?" the baby Spheal said in surprise when it suddenly couldn't move. "Spheal! Spheal!"

The other baby Spheals looked at their sibling in distress, but made no move to help it.

The baby Spheal caught in the paralysis attempted to hit Meloi with a Water Gun attack, but the water came out in a weak dribble.

"Meloi! Use tackle attack now!" I ordered her.

"Ma!" Meloi took off at a run and slammed her head into the baby Spheal's blubbery body. It didn't seem to have too much of an effect, so solid was the baby Pokemon's body and Meloi staggered backwards, looking dazed.

At that moment I cursed the fact Meloi hadn't learned any new moves for the duration we had been travelling together. Faced with little choice, I turned to Meloi, who had eventually recovered from her sore head. "Meloi! Use Thunder Shock! _Gently_!"

However, Meloi had a different idea. Visibly angered at the Spheal's refusal to go down from her tackle attack, and probably annoyed at being forced to battle with a gentler approach, she blasted the baby Spheal with a vicious bolt of electricity.

"MELOI!" I gasped in shock at my Pokemon's complete disregard to my orders. She didn't look bothered and instead sat on her backside and began licking her paws. Shaking my head in disgust at her behaviour, I looked at the baby Spheal and felt instantly sorry for it. It was lying, obviously completely knocked out, not even responding to the frantic cries of its siblings.

"Go ahead, lass." The old man behind me said.

I unhooked a Pokeball from my belt and tossed it at the Spheal. This didn't really feel as much of a victory or an achievement as I thought it would. The ball bounced off Spheal's motionless body and it disappeared in a beam of red light. The Pokeball shook for a few moments, before it too became motionless.

"Well done," The old man said.

"Funny…" I said, eyeing Meloi as I picked up the Pokeball. "It doesn't really feel that good…I thought I'd be happier…"

The old man laughed. "Ye sometimes can have mixed emotions 'bout that kinda thing. Especially when you're not used to battling other Pokemon. Yer Mareep's not to blame, she was just doin' her job, tryin' ta please ye."

"I guess so," I sighed, looking down at the Pokeball which contained a Pokemon. My Pokemon. _My _Pokemon. My baby Spheal. The water Pokemon I so desired. It _was _exciting to finally hold a Pokemon of my own in my hands…

But whatever excitement I had was tainted with disappointment. I looked at Meloi, who was licking her paws nonchalantly, not even aware I was so angry with her...

* * *

**Author's Note**

**I felt so bad about not giving two chapters a day I've been writing all afternoon to finish this!**

**Thanks to MagikarpMaster for pointing out a little mistake I made in a couple of the chapters! And also, thanks to The Warrior of Many Faces for the lovely review AND who also figured out something important to do with Elliot! That was the direction I was hoping to take, but there's a few more twists in the tale yet!**

**Anyway, please review! Things should be getting a little more interesting now that Sienna has the baby Spheal on her team! **

**Also I forgot the disclaimer up till now! Ooops! So yeah, I don't own Pokemon! Only thing I own here are the OC's! Please don't sue me! **


	11. Every Challenge Along the Way

After catching my new baby Spheal, the old man and I had dinner together. Even the baby Spheal and Meloi ate with his many Water type Pokemon with little incident. That is, no-one got shocked. It was a lot of fun sitting with the old man to dinner. He told me many exciting stories about his life as a sailor, including his recounts of being shipwrecked for almost two months after being caught in a vicious Gyarados storm. It sounded terrifying to me. Sailing around in the rough, stormy waters definitely wasn't my idea of fun. I'm not a good sailor. I'm not even fond of swimming. But the old man had a way of telling the story that even I felt enthralled by the possibility of going out to sea. Also, to my surprise, he had also been married, but had lost his wife a few years ago, had three children, ten grandchildren and one great granddaughter. In return I told him a heavily edited account of my life, focusing mainly on the here and now rather than the past. It was a pleasant, enjoyable, warm evening I spent with the old man, and I was sad to leave him and his plethora of water Pokemon.

He offered me a bed for the night, but I politely refused. I knew if I got too comfortable staying with the old man, I wouldn't want to leave. Instead, I thanked him again whole-heartedly for letting me take one of his Spheals, and left for a bed in the Pokemon Centre.

The rooms in the Pokemon Centres were basic, but comfortable, kind of like what I imagined rooms in University residences to be. I dumped my stuff in my room, took out my map of the Kanto region and released Meloi and my new baby Spheal.

"Spheal? Spheal!" the baby Spheal squeaked at the strange new surroundings.

"Mareep! Mareep!" Meloi said huffily, looking highly displeased to be sharing the tiny room with the Spheal and me. She leapt onto the tiny single bed and stretched herself out, firmly marking her territory.

"It's okay, Spheal…" I said, kneeling down to the baby Pokemon's level. "I'm your new trainer. I'm Sienna. And Mrs Huffy Drawers over there is Meloi."

Meloi made a highly unimpressed sound and her ears crackled with electricity. I sighed to myself. I was really getting fed up of her attitude and just to spite her, I fed Spheal a few of the plumpest berries I had reserved in the berry bag.

"Mareep! Mareep!" She protested at once.

"You can be quiet!" I hissed at her. "Until your attitude changes and you start _listening _to your trainer, you don't get _any _treats! Got me? And don't you _dare _shock me or the baby Spheal or you'll be in your Pokeball for a _week_!"

I hadn't meant to be so mean about it. I felt like a mother disciplining a naughty child. However, the message did seem to get across and she leapt down from the bed and curled up at the foot of it, not even passing a glance at me or the Spheal in the process.

I breathed out in relief. I snapped on the mini lamp in the room, and then produced my Pokedex from my bag. I had decided I should find out what gender my new baby Spheal was so I could nickname it, deduce what level it was and also see what attacks it knew. I pointed the scanner at it.

"Hmm…a female, eh?" I laughed to myself. "I got the one female, did I? Ooh, the old man will have trouble on his hands when her brothers grow up!" the Pokedex beeped again, displaying her level. "Level 6, eh? You're half as strong as Meloi was when I got her. Interesting." Another beep and a list of attacks came up. I read them off the screen. "Powder Snow, Growl, Water Gun and Defence Curl…pretty well rounded there, I reckon." I snapped the Pokedex shut and shut it away. "Now…what about a nickname then?"

I thought for a while on it. Quite a while actually. Spheal didn't even know what all the fuss was about and rolled around the room to amuse herself. Meloi was still sulking at the end of the bed, but I didn't care.

"I've got it." I said suddenly. The Spheal stopped rolling and gave me her full attention. "Aurora." I announced.

She looked at me. "Spheal?"

"Aurora. Like Aurora Borealis. The Northern Lights that happen over the Polar Regions!" I explained, proud of myself I had come up with it. It was almost as good of a stroke of genius as "Meloi" had been. "So, Aurora, are you happy with your name, then?"

"Spheal! Spheal!" she cried happily, clapping her tiny flippers together and making one heck of a noise whilst she was doing it.

"That's settled then!" I grinned.

It was then I looked at the clock. It was getting late. It had been a long day. I'd met an old friend and made a new one. I'd hiked my way through Viridian Forest and hitched a ride on a _Dragonite._ I'd fought my very first battle. I'd lost my very first battle. I'd captured my very first Pokemon and travelled the length of three cities. Wow. That was a lot to do in all one day. I was glad now that the day was drawing to a close. I was looking forward to getting some sleep.

I undressed and changed into my pyjamas. I slipped into bed, letting out a satisfied sigh. Yeah, the bed was a little lumpy and the room was pretty much just _white_, but I liked it. A feeling of normality…

"Mel? Aurora? Climb up here!" I called for my Pokemon. A moment later, I heard a heavy _thunk _and the springs groaned theatrically, almost sending me flying into the air with the force. Something rolled over my feet and crashed into the wall, before it shuffled up and positioned itself in the crook of my arms. Meloi took a bit more persuading to jump up on the bed, but she eventually did, after a well meant berry bribe, and curled up next to my feet. I felt oddly content. I was still annoyed at Meloi's disobedience earlier on in the day, but at that moment, it didn't really matter. I reached over and turned out the light. I closed my eyes and felt the rhythmic breathing coming from Aurora and Meloi, and sleep came for me within minutes.

I woke very early the next morning. A pale watery light was slowly filling the darkened room. Aurora was still asleep next to me, and there was no movement coming from the end of the bed where Meloi was sleeping. I eased myself out of bed after seeing the time was coming up for seven in the morning. I padded across to the tiny desk against the wall and consulted my map.

So far, I was making good time. I would be in Vermillion in a few days, assuming I left today and I still hadn't heard anything on the news about any incident in Hoenn. I was starting to feel optimistic that I would actually get to Hoenn within plenty of time. I picked out the only clothes that weren't ripped, damp, mud-spattered, grass-stained or just downright ugly and left my room for one of the shower rooms located across the hall. It was a relief to feel clean again, and I padded barefoot, my hair wound up in a turban back down the hall to my room.

I met a few trainers on my way back, mostly girls on their way to the shower rooms. A few boys bypassed the shower facilities to go straight down to breakfast. My stomach rumbled at the thought of food, and after shoving on some socks and shoes and towel drying my short hair, I headed down to breakfast.

I had expected breakfast to be a somewhat noisy affair with all the young trainers, but I hadn't expected all their _Pokemon _to be let loose and rampaging around the room as well. The room was _packed _with Pokemon and trainers and the noise was deafening. I even had to duck from flying food a few times! I made my way in timidly, feeling completely out of place, looking for a spare seat. There were obviously gangs or groups of travelling trainers, but there weren't many travelling solo, like myself. I eventually found a seat at the lower end of one of the huge tables, sitting opposite a girl with long blonde hair, hand feeding a pink cat like Pokemon.

I hesitated before letting Meloi and Aurora out of their Pokeballs. I didn't want Aurora rolling away and getting lost, and Meloi would probably consider all these Pokemon around her easy target practice. I ended up hoisting Aurora onto my lap to feed her and Meloi seemed content with staying in one place when I filled her a huge bowl of food. Of course, after she finished hers, she was intent on sticking her face into _mine. _

"Get _off _me, Meloi!" I hissed, suddenly aware of a pair of eyes looking at the three of us so intently I was surprised it hadn't burned a hole in my skull. I tried to fight Meloi off, but she was determined and I was growing more embarrassed by the_ second. _Aurora on the other hand found the whole game fun and clapped her little flippers together noisily. I had a nasty suspicion every trainer in the room had slowly turned to watch me.

I eventually managed to fight Meloi off, mostly by chucking another bowl of food at her. I let out an exasperated sigh and went back to spooning up my own breakfast. Aurora was still clapping noisily on my lap, making it almost impossible to get my spoon to my mouth without slopping half of it down my front. I thought Aurora would listen to me when I told her to jump down, but she was having none of it.

The blonde girl looked up from feeding the strange pink kitten Pokemon. "You know," she said from across the table. "Your Pokemon aren't very obedient."

I frowned at her. "Yeah, well, that's none of your business."

"Just out of interest, how many badges do you have?"

"Badges?" I repeated with disdain. "None. I don't have the time to be fighting stupid arrogant Gym Leaders."

"See, therein lies your problem." She said, stroking her pink kitten Pokemon. "Your Pokemon don't listen to you cos you don't have any badges."

"How can owning a few strips of coloured metal make my Pokemon more obedient?" I asked sarcastically. "No, mine are just disobedient by nature. They're "Spirited!"" I added darkly.

"Pokemon respect trainers with lots of Gym Badges," she said, delving into her pocket for a small case. She opened it and showed me. Inside were three gleaming badges. One was a simple looking, grey octagon. Another was in the shape of a shiny blue teardrop. The third was an eight pointed star with an orange octagon. She giggled and repeated an old line from those awful Saturday morning cartoons. "You've gotta beat 'em all!"

"Right…" I said slowly. "I'm not seeing the significance."

"If you want your Pokemon to listen to you, you should consider getting a Gym Badge." She snapped the case shut and replaced it in her jacket. "Each one makes a Pokemon more willing to listen."

"Ha!" I laughed. "That's the biggest load of rubbish I ever heard. Besides, I don't have the time for that kind of thing."

The girl shrugged. "If you say so. But if you want your Pokemon to carry on being disobedient, go right ahead. But you'll get nowhere with them being like that!"

"_Hmph._" I thought. "_What a know-it-all. I don't have the time for any more distractions._" Then I actually thought about it. I still hadn't heard anything about an incident in Hoenn yet. I guess I did have _some _time. Elliot had said the gym here in Cerulean was a Water Pokemon Gym. I mean, I _did _have the advantage, so it shouldn't take that long. And besides, it would be a good opportunity to get some experience against a strong opponent. It was a tempting offer. Especially if it meant Meloi would obey me better…And even if the girl was just spinning me a lie…it wouldn't exactly be anything lost, really.

The girl looked at me, obviously noticing my facial expressions had changed. She smiled. "So…are you gonna challenge this town's Gym Leader? Or are you still convinced it's a pile of rubbish?"

I shrugged; trying to act like it wasn't a big deal. "Well, I'll just go along and see. It can't hurt."

The girl smiled. "Great. You'll definitely have the advantage with that Mareep there. Like you said, it can't hurt. Tell you what, actually!" she beamed. "I'll go with you to the Gym! I've beaten the Gym Leader before, so I'll be able to help!"

"What?" I said without thinking. "No! No, you don't have to do that!"

"No, no, it's no trouble at all!" she grinned manically. "Come on, let's go now! Let's go, let's go, let's go!" she stood up, grabbed my arm and began tugging me out the breakfast room with _far _more strength than I could have attributed to her.

"_Great…_" I thought to myself. "_I thought I said no more distractions. Now I'm being dragged along to a Gym for a battle with this mad, pushy girl! What on _earth _am I going to do? I'll never get to Hoenn at this rate!"_

The strange girl dragged me to the front of the gym, only a short walk away from the Pokemon Centre. Her pink kitten Pokemon ambled along behind us, and Aurora and Meloi were bringing up the rear. The Gym was a peculiar dome shape and it was brightly painted with a picture of a strange seal type Pokemon on it. The girl turned to me and grinned again.

"Most trainers have been through this part of the circuit, so you should be able to walk right in and challenge her! Normally you have to put your name down on a waiting list, but you should be okay!"

"Great…" I said unfeelingly. My enthusiasm had rapidly dwindled.

"Listen, Misty the Gym Leader uses Water Type Pokemon, meaning they're weak to Electric and Grass types! I didn't have an Electric type like you so I used Heather, my Bulbasaur to take her down!"

"Riiiight…."

"But don't get too cocky!" She warned me, waggling a finger at me. "Despite your advantage, Misty is still an awesome trainer! They don't make them Gym Leaders for nothin', you know?"

I couldn't even reply to the girl by this point. All I was thinking was "_How the hell did I let myself get talked into this?"_

"Now, go in!" She pushed me, hard, on my back, steering me in forcefully into the room. I contemplated digging my heels in, but she was just too strong.

"_Is this girl part Machoke or something?" _I thought despairingly to myself as I found myself in what appeared to be a registration room. A blue haired girl dressed smartly with a clipboard took my name and informed me that I could go right in.

The blonde girl cheered at this and grabbed me by my arm and pulled me into what she called the battle arena. I barely had time to recall Meloi and Aurora into their Pokeballs before my arm was almost forcibly yanked out its socket and I found myself in what seemed to be a giant swimming pool, complete with viewing areas, bleachers, diving boards, the lot.

"What the hell…?" I said to myself, looking out at the giant expanse of deep blue water. It was dotted here and there with floating platforms. I looked nervously at the shifting water at the edge. I wasn't that comfortable around water…

"Yeah, when the Gym isn't in use, they put on water displays here." The girl offered by way of explanation.

"Brilliant." I said, a shiver of fear juddering through me. I was really starting to dread this now. "You didn't tell me I had to battle _on _the water."

The girl shrugged. "Technically you don't. You battle on the platforms."

"Same difference," I said, gingerly testing out one of the floating platforms near the side of the pool. It wobbled ominously. It didn't look like it could take much weight. I swallowed. All of a sudden this didn't look like such a good idea any more. I felt sick watching the churning water.

"I'll go and sit in the bleachers!" the blonde girl waved and disappeared up into the high bleachers, her little pink kitten following her devotedly. I was left, feeling somewhat overwhelmed. "_Just _what _is going on again_?"

A noise suddenly distracted me and I looked up. Someone was standing at the other end of the gym, perched confidently on one of the diving boards. I took a couple of wary steps back. I hoped I didn't have to stand on a diving board like her when the battle started. I was already nervous enough about having to battle so close to the water. I wasn't a strong swimmer either.

"A challenger, eh?" a feminine voice was speaking. "It's been a while…"

The Gym Leader came into view, illuminated by a spotlight even though it was still early morning. She didn't _look _intimidating, but that didn't mean anything. She was dressed in a skimpy blue swimsuit and her orange hair lay wet and dripping against her slim back. She fitted the bill exactly for what I imagined a water trainer to be.

"So, you're a new face. I haven't seen you around before. What's your policy on Pokemon?" I opened my mouth to answer, but she steamed on with her little monologue before I could. "_My _policy is an all out offensive with Water Pokemon! Haha! You better be ready! My water Pokemon are tough!"

Another voice boomed from the side of the bleachers, making me jump. "This will be a two-on-two battle between the challenger and the Gym Leader Misty! The challenger may use substitutes, but the Gym Leader may not! The battle is ended when both Pokemon on either team have fainted. You may begin!"

As Misty released her first Pokemon into the water, my body was fighting a fierce internal war between screaming and running away. Or both.

"_What the _hell _am I going to do? I can't beat a Gym Leader!_"

* * *

**Author's Note**

**Just a little bit of filler, really. Between you and me, I needed a situation to help advance the story, introduce the new character (the blonde girl) and strengthen Meloi and Aurora! Gym Battling was the best option for me!**

**For all you lovely people still reading, I love you! You guys make me so happy! But please please please please review! **


	12. Hydrophobia

The Gym Leader's first Pokemon was the exact same as one of the old man's Pokemon. It resembled a strange, tan star. Misty called it Staryu or something and it swept across the Gym Battle stage and landed in the water, just waiting for a challenge.

I _really _felt sick now. I didn't bother checking the Pokemon's identity with the Pokedex. I debated for a moment, studying the battlefield. I didn't know which Pokemon to use! Sure, Meloi had the type advantage, but would she really be comfortable on those floating platforms with all the water around her? I know I wouldn't be. Then there was Aurora…I just got her and had never tried battling with her. Could she take down a _Gym Leader's _Pokemon? Was I even guaranteed that she would listen to me? But then again, the place was filled with water. She would definitely be more comfortable in the water than Meloi.

I made my decision. "Go, Aurora!" I threw the Pokeball near the water and Aurora appeared in a burst of white light.

She clapped her flippers excitedly in the water. "Spheal! Spheal!"

Misty looked at me. "You'd challenge me with a baby Pokemon? You're just asking to be beaten!"

"Don't underestimate me _or _my Aurora!" I shouted back with a bravado that didn't really belong to me.

Misty snorted. "Very well. Staryu, let's get this battle started! Use swift, now!"

The gem in the centre of Staryu's body glowed brightly. I watched, not really sure of what was going to happen. Suddenly it began to fire incredibly fast white stars from its gem!

"Aurora! Dive into the water!" I screamed.

Aurora flipped around and dove quite deeply into the water, just missing the rapid fire of white stars.

I knew what to do without even thinking about it. "Now, Aurora! Dive up and use Water Gun!"

Aurora jumped out of the water at my command and fired a strong beam of water at Staryu, now standing on its platform. I grinned. It looked like it was going to hit its mark!

"Staryu! Counter it with Rapid Spin!"

Staryu began to spin around extremely fast until it was almost making a miniature hurricane. The water gun hit its target, but it simply ricocheted off the mini hurricane and the water went speeding off in the opposite direction. I cursed to myself. I hadn't seen that coming.

I had to think fast. "Aurora! Use Powder Snow!"

"Spheal!"

I had no idea what kind of move Powder Snow was. But right now it was my only salvation. I couldn't find a Water type with water moves! Aurora slapped her flippers together, opened her mouth and blew out a gust of chilling, powdery snow towards Misty's Staryu. It was a faster attack than I had expected, and Misty's Staryu couldn't avoid it. The Staryu gave a sudden shiver as the extreme cold passed through its body. It flew back and hit the water hard, causing a huge splash. The water rippled, causing waves to spread across the swimming pool gym arena. Aurora rode the waves happily, chirping cheerfully.

"Staryu!" Misty called.

I think everyone's eyes scanned the shifting water looking for the Staryu. I was tense, half expecting it to come shooting out of the water, ready to take down my Aurora. I hardly dared breathe. Then suddenly, a dark shadow appeared in near enough the middle of the pool. A moment later, the Staryu drifted to the surface. It wasn't moving. In fact…it was covered in ice! A thick layer of ice had encased the starfish Pokemon, rendering it immobile and pretty much useless in battle. I looked at Aurora in shock. Had she really done that? Had my little baby Spheal really done that?

"Staryu is unable to battle!" the announcer ruled. I heard the blonde girl screaming and cheering from the bleachers.

The Gym Leader Misty scowled and recalled her Pokemon, a look of thunder on her face. "_Wow…_" I thought. "_I guess even Gym Leaders get upset when they lose. I thought they were supposed to be all gracious in defeat and stuff like that_!"

"Good work, Aurora!" I shouted over to Aurora, who was still having more fun rolling over the waves than anything else.

"Hah! You got lucky!" Misty cried, holding out another Pokeball. "But you won't be so lucky _this _time!"

She tossed another Pokeball into the arena. This one exploded in white light, and Misty's second Pokemon appeared. This Pokemon, like the last one, also resembled some kind of star. But this one was a violet colour, but the gold centre was the same, and the core red jewel was much bigger. And when the Staryu only had five appendages, this one seemed to have twice as many, almost like it had grown another star on its back!

"Meet my Starmie!" Misty announced proudly. "The evolved form of Staryu."

I was nervous again. If this was an evolved form of Staryu, it was probably about twice or maybe even three times as powerful as its pre-evolved form. But surely, how bad could it be? This was just another water Pokemon, right? Aurora was more powerful than I had thought, and I still had Meloi! Yeah, this would be fine! I _could _beat this Gym Leader!

"Aurora!" I shouted out again. "Hit that thing with another Powder Snow!"

Another swift blast of chilly snow burst from Aurora's mouth, heading straight for Misty's Starmie. I tensed with excitement. It was going to hit!

"Starmie! Jump out of the water!"

"Wha…?"

I could only watch in total shock as the Starmie propelled itself out of the water and it launched itself into the air, using the second star on its back. The Powder Snow attack missed completely, small shards of ice and snow hitting the water and melting away.

"Starmie! Use Water Pulse!"

The gem in the middle of the Starmie's body flashed a brilliant red, and then suddenly it formed a giant blue ball of water. It fired the ball of water and it sped and pulsed along the rippling water in the pool, causing huge waves to form and crash against the gym walls. I screamed for Aurora to dive under water, but she didn't get away quick enough. She flapped her tiny flippers uselessly against the rolling waves, but she could, to my shock, barely swim. The water hit her hard and swept her underneath. I shouted for her, but my words were lost over the crashing waves that even reached my end of the pool, soaking me completely. But I didn't care.

I desperately scanned the waters as they calmed. Misty's Starmie flew through the air and landed on one of the floating platforms, but there was no sign of Aurora for a few moments. Then suddenly, I caught sight of something floating by one of the ladders into the pool. I sprinted over to the huddled ball of powder blue fur and scooped it out of the water. Aurora was barely responsive, almost unconscious. It was a sight I didn't think I would ever get used to, no matter how long I would remain a trainer. The sight of your Pokemon, your friend, lying hurt and unconscious because of a mistake _you _made.

"You did well," I said, recalling her back to her Pokeball.

"Spheal is unable to battle. Challenger has one Pokemon remaining."

"All right…" I muttered to myself. I was still wondering what I was doing here, fighting the Gym Leader. "_Elliot would be proud_." I was startled by that strange, sudden thought and quickly pushed it to the back of my mind. What was _wrong _with me? Thinking about Elliot at a time like this. But my heart gave a little satisfied leap when I thought about showing off a shiny gym badge to him, telling him smugly he couldn't categorize me as a greenhorn anymore.

"_Win or lose, either way I'm gonna kill that blonde girl after this,_" I thought, looking at the (current) main cause of my angst sitting cheering me on in the bleachers.

I unhooked Meloi's Pokeball from my waist and replaced Aurora's. I weighed up the distance from where I was standing to the nearest floating platform. I didn't think

Meloi would appreciate being released from her Pokeball and finding herself drowning in water. I _seriously _wouldn't be flavour of the month then. I breathed in deeply before I threw the Pokeball. To my surprise, it landed exactly where I wanted it to go and Meloi appeared in a blast of white light. She looked surprised at first and wobbled ominously as she shifted her weight, but then she caught sight of the Starmie and electricity sparked from her ears.

"Interesting choice." I heard Misty speaking again. "But don't think you've got the advantage just because you've got an Electric type. Don't get cocky!"

I breathed out in exasperation. I was rapidly tiring of this whole situation. I had to _beat _this girl. I _had _to. I just hoped Meloi would listen to me this time. Just this _one _time. "Meloi!" I called her to attention. I had already thought of what I deemed a halfway decent plan. If I could stop that Starmie from moving, I could probably negate all those powerful attacks it most likely had. Then I could just use Thunder Shock on it and win the battle! Surely? I quickly jumped in with a command before Misty could. "Meloi! Use Thunder Wave now!"

"Mareep!"

I prayed to any and all Gods in existence that Meloi would listen. "_I swear God, Buddha, Allah, anyone! If Meloi listens to me, I'll never be bad again!_"

Next thing I knew, blue lights were surrounding Meloi's body and she fired multiple shots of weak blue electricity. This was the first time I had seen her use this technique properly! To my despair, I had figured out that Meloi _hadn't _used Thunder Wave as I had wanted her to back when she paralysed Aurora, but a weak Thunder Shock. However, since the Thunder Shock attack had a good chance of paralysing an opponent anyway, I was none the wiser.

The multiple bolts of weak blue electricity were almost impossible for Starmie to manoeuvre around, considering the sheer number of them, and although it put up a valiant struggle, it eventually was hit by one of the bolts. It fell on one of the platforms, completely immobile, complaining and protesting, static crackling all around its body.

"Yes!" I cheered. This was working perfectly! "Now, Meloi! Thunder Shock!"

Like I said, it was working perfectly. Too perfectly.

"Starmie! Use Recover, now!

The Starmie's body suddenly glowed brightly and all the damage on its body suddenly disappeared! As did the obvious effects of the paralysis! It moved swiftly out of the way of the incoming Thunder Shock attack and dived under the water.

I cried out in frustration. Now what?

"Starmie! Use Surf, now!"

The Starmie leapt from the water, turned around once and then suddenly there was a gigantic wave forming behind it. I couldn't help myself and I screamed as the wave started to come rolling towards us. The Starmie was riding the wave straight toward us! Within moments, I felt massive force hit me and I slammed into the wall, water spraying all around me. I fell to the floor of the gym, straight on my face.

"Oops…" I heard Misty's voice over the roar of the water. "Didn't mean to do that, rookie!"

I looked up weakly, trying to spot Meloi. I couldn't see her. I got to my feet, staggering slightly. I shook my head like a dog, trying to clear it. Then suddenly I heard the blonde girl shouting for me.

"In the water! Your Mareep!"

I gasped as I looked up. Meloi was struggling in the water, weakened, but still with a bit of fight in her. But she was barely able to stay afloat in the deep water! I couldn't watch her like that. She would drown if I didn't do anything to help her!

"Hang on, Meloi!" I shouted. For that moment, I didn't care about my dislike of water and I threw myself bodily into the swimming pool.

But it was a different story when I hit the water. My hydrophobia flared up immediately as soon as my whole body was submerged. My limbs and body became cold and unresponsive, from fear or cold, I didn't know. The water tickled and licked at my throat, like it was an icy hand just waiting to strangle me. I was terrified! Terrified for myself and Meloi! I tried to swim forward towards Meloi, but I could barely move. I remembered why I hated water, why I could barely swim! But I couldn't let my Pokemon drown!

"Meloi I'm coming!" I spluttered, managing to propel myself through the water by using some kind of primitive doggy paddle.

"Oh, please…this is painful to watch," I heard Misty say as I finally managed to make it within arm's reach to Meloi. "Starmie, get those two out of the water so we can finish our battle!"

The Starmie came speeding towards us. I didn't see it coming from behind and as I felt it crash into the water and dig into my back, I let out a scream. At that exact moment I had managed to grab onto Meloi, and I squeezed her in my panic.

"Ma!" At that point Meloi seemed to snap back into the present, and the combination of being in water, coupled with a tight squeeze around the middle _and _my loud scream in her ear did _not _bode well. "MAREEEEEEP!"

I could only grip onto Mareep's thick woolly fur as the electricity began coursing through her, then me, then the water surrounding us. Someone screamed, so ear-piercingly loud my ears rang. I don't know if it was me or someone else. Then there was a loud rumbling, followed by a loud explosion. Colours flashed before my eyes, I felt my body detach from the woolly fur that was Mareep. I think I cried out. And then for a moment, all I knew was pain. Crushing, burning pain that shot through my entire body. I felt viciously hot, then freezing cold…My vision blurred and blotted. Darkness gathered at the corners of my eyes before the inky blackness descended and I knew no more…

* * *

**Author's Note**

**I don't really have much to say about this chapter.**

**Battle scenes aren't really my forte, but I tried my best. I hope its okay. **

**Sorry to end on a cliffhanger like this! I hope I won't rely on ending on cliffhangers too often! **


	13. Sealing the Deal

I could hear a voice.

"Oh, wait! Look! She's coming round."

I opened my eyes. At first, I squinted in the bright white lights. I couldn't see much apart from a couple of dark shadows, but then my fuzzy vision cleared and I was looking up at the concerned faces of the blonde girl and the Gym Leader Misty.

"Thank Goodness you're okay!" The blonde girl's voice was thick, like she was about to cry. "We thought you were dead when we pulled you out of the water!"

"_Dead?_" I thought. Strangely, the word didn't create as big of a panic as I thought it should. "_Why…what happened_?" I tried to sit up, amid furious protesting that I should remain lying down. I understood why immediately. Pain shot through what felt like every _cell _in my body and everything screamed in protest. I groaned slowly and sunk back down into a soft bed. "Wh…what happened?" It even hurt to form words. My voice cracked and faltered in places. "Where am I? I don't remember…"

Misty laughed humourlessly. "Your Mareep happened, that's what."

"Meloi?" I suddenly remembered. "Meloi! Is she okay?"

"Oh, _she's_ fine." Misty said airily. "You, my Starmie and the Gym didn't get off that well, mind you."

"What…?"

"Don't you remember?" the blonde girl pulled a chair up next to the bed and moments later I felt her pink kitten Pokemon thudding its head into my arm, making me wince with each bolt of pain that came with it. "Your Mareep shocked you—"

"That's nothing new…"

"—when you were in the water."

"Oh."

"I'd say it was little more than just an "Oh!"" The blonde girl sounded hysterical again! "Your Mareep _destroyed _half this gym! You nearly died!"

"Huh…" With that, I suddenly realised that I was in a little white room. A hospital room, maybe? I was wearing one of those awful hospital gowns. A lot of my body was bound in tight white bandages, my arms, my chest, my stomach. I finally understood. But for some reason I didn't panic in the face of my injuries. I was more interested in piecing together what happened. "Meloi destroyed half the Gym? Nearly killed me? She did all that _herself?_"

"Well, to be fair, I think all the water here helped." Misty imputed. "Water conducts electricity after all."

"I'm surprised you didn't _die _in there!" the blonde girl reiterated, getting even more agitated by the second.

I could only grin. "I'm pretty sure I'm used to electric shocks by now."

"Are you kidding?" the blonde girl fumed. "You've got first degree burns _all over _your body! You can't tell me you're used to _that_! Your poor skin is all blistered and red…" she sounded like she was going to cry.

"Easy there…" I said. "It could've been a lot worse. Like I said, I'm used to shocks."

Misty laughed nostalgically. "You remind me of a kid I used to know. Oh, by the way, here's your Mareep coming."

I looked to see Meloi trotting up towards me, looking casual, as if nothing had happened. She looked at me, and then jumped up on my bed. I kind of wanted to put my hand out to touch her, but part of me was afraid of getting shocked again. But then, she did something she'd never done before and planted her soaking wet tongue on my face and dragged it across my cheek. I squealed.

The blonde girl managed a grin. But when she spoke, her voice was too cheery, as if she was hiding behind a false exterior. "Looks like your Mareep's already being friendlier! It must be the effects of that badge, eh?"

"Badge? What badge?"

"_Your _badge." Misty held out a shiny tear-drop badge to me. "You won that battle."

I had almost forgotten I had been battling a Gym Leader. "I…won?" I asked stupidly, looking at the shiny blue teardrop badge in-between Misty's thumb and index finger.

"Course you did! No Water Pokemon could withstand _that _electric attack! And here, these are for you too." She produced what looked like a tiny disc from her pocket and a stack of money. "Here's your winnings. And this here is a TM. It contains a special move you can teach your Pokemon. This one is Water Pulse,"

"Wait…that move you knocked Aurora out with?"

"The very same. Teach it to that Spheal of yours. It'll win you plenty battles!"

"But…why?"

"Because you won!" the blonde girl took the badge, money and the TM from Misty and pinned the badge to the inside of her pink hoodie and stuck the TM and money in her pocket. "There! I'll keep these for you until we can get you a nice shiny badge case like mine _and _a TM case! And _I'll _be buying them!"

"No, no, there's no need for that…I mean I just won money, right?"

"Are you joking me, girl?" She suddenly fumed, making me jump. "You almost got _killed _because I dragged you all the way down here!"

"Hey, "almost" isn't the same as actually dying." I reminded her, but it didn't make her any better. In face, it made her worse and she burst into noisy sobs. "Umm…sorry, I…" I flustered.

"It's okay," Misty cut in. "She's fine. She's been like for the better part of the evening. Crying on and off, on and off."

"The evening?" I gasped. But I had originially challenged Misty in the _morning, _hadn't I? "H…How long was I out?"

"Well, you challenged me in the morning and it's now about ten at night."

"Oh my God!" I cried, trying to sit up. "I…I need to get moving! I've got places to be!"

"You're going nowhere!" Misty said firmly. "You need to rest. Your skin still needs time to heal."

"How much time is "time to heal"?" I demanded wearily.

"A couple of days at least." A nurse had suddenly popped into my room. "You weren't burned as badly as you _could _have been. But you'll need a day or two of rest to recover…."

"Aaaaawwwww!" I groaned, feebly hitting the bed with my fist. "But I need to get to Hoenn!"

"Yeah, whatever…" Misty said, yawning. "Anyway, kids, I should be going. I need my beauty sleep. I'll see you around! Stay in bed, you!" She added, obviously directing her last words at me.

And with that, she sauntered out of my tiny room, the nurse following her, leaving me, Meloi, the blonde girl and her pink kitten alone. The blonde girl had stopped crying, thankfully. For a while, none of us said anything. The only noises came from the pink kitten Pokemon and Meloi investigating each other and muttering softly.

"Jasmine." She said suddenly.

I blinked. "Pardon me?"

"My name…" she said. "I never told you what it was. It's Jasmine. Jasmine Moore."

"Oh." I said blankly. "Mine's Sienna Volbeda. That Mareep there is Meloi."

"This is my Skitty," Jasmine stroked the pink kitten Pokemon. "His name is Skittle."

"Skittle…" I repeated. "_Wow…that's original… But did she seriously say this little pink thing is _male?_ Poor thing…"_

"I…I feel really bad about this whole thing…" Jasmine said softly.

"It's fine." I said, wondering how many times I would have to say this before she eventually got the message. "It was my own fault really for diving into the water like an idiot."

"Yeah, but you did it to save your Pokemon!" she insisted. "You were so brave!"

"So stupid, more like." I corrected her. "I can barely swim. I _hate _water."

She gaped at me. "You can barely swim…but you dived into the water to save your Pokemon anyway?"

"I couldn't let her drown!" I insisted, just waiting for the lecture to come. "I mean…I hate water! I knew how she was feeling in there" I couldn't let her drown!"

"No! That's amazing!" She gushed. "Most trainers would just _recall _their Pokemon! And some would've just let them struggle! But you! You dived in there without a second thought and tried to rescue her yourself!"

I groaned. I _could _have just recalled Meloi. That would have made things so much easier. I didn't really listen to Jasmine's insistence that I was some sort of hero or much else of her talking; I was more interested in stroking Meloi's head. I didn't want to stroke her woolly coat, too afraid of being shocked again. I was tuning in and out of Jasmine's babbling, but one particular line caught my attention

"—And don't be shocked if you see yourself on the local news, I mean, there _was _a big explosion!"

"What?" I gasped. "What did you say?"

She looked a little bit hurt as it was evident then I had barely been listening to her, but she got over it quickly. "I _said_; don't be surprised if you see yourself on the local news. You were on it earlier. It was a big thing, a massive explosion and all! I mean, just look!"

She turned on the tiny television hanging in the corner of my room, flipped it onto the local news and I swore loudly when I saw a truly ghastly picture of myself that was at least two years out of date on one of the news segments with the caption "_Trainer Hurt in Cerulean City Gym Blast!_"

"Oh. My. God!" I murmured in embarrassment. "_Where _did they get that picture?"

"I don't know." Jasmine shrugged. "They heard your name from somewhere and well, you know what the media are like. They can find dirt on _anyone_!"

"Oh….." I groaned. "This is awful. What if my mum sees this?" I didn't mean to say the last part out loud and I immediately cursed my big mouth afterwards.

"Oh, is your mum a little paranoid?" Jasmine laughed. "_My _mum's like that, too! I wouldn't worry! Trainers get in and out of scrapes all the time. Besides, they made it sound far worse than it actually was. You know, I could phone her for you and let her know you're okay?" she offered.

"No, it's not like that. My mum doesn't _know _I'm a Pokemon Trainer."

Again I cursed my stupid big mouth for the second thing that slipped out. Jasmine's expression changed. "So…you ran away from home to be a Pokemon trainer?"

"Are you kidding?" I managed a short laugh. "Nothing as romantic sounding as that."

"So…what?" she asked. "How come she doesn't know?"

"Well…" I sighed. I didn't really want to tell Jasmine the whole truth, but in my experience, it was easier to just spit out the whole story than try and avoid the whole subject. "My mum kind of disappeared."

"DISAPPEARED?" Her reaction was a little…extreme.

"Yeah…" I wished I had the energy to shrink back a bit from her loud voice. "Said she was chasing after some incident in Hoenn. And my dad."

Thankfully she ignored the "dad" issue. "What incident in Hoenn?"

"I don't know." I said truthfully. "I've been watching all the Hoenn region news trying to see if anything was happening, but nothing so far."

"Wow." Jasmine said, leaning back in the little chair she was leaning in. "But if nothing's happened, how can you be sure you're not on some kind of wild goose chase? Can't you even contact her somehow?"

They were questions I'd pondered to myself for quite a while. "I don't know." I admitted. "She didn't take her mobile with her," I remembered finding it tucked away on her desk. "But if there's even the slightest chance that she's in trouble, then I need to go after her and help her."

"Wow…you really_ are_ brave. See, you're a trainer with an actual _purpose_! You don't care about all this stupid battling the Gym Leaders and Elite Four and all that stuff."

That confused me. The way she was talking, it was like she didn't care about Gym Leaders and battling either. But didn't she have three badges already? And wasn't she the one so insistent on me taking the Gym Leader challenge? She spotted my confused face and giggled nervously.

"Yeah, I know." She stroked Skittle who had finally given up on investigating Meloi and me. "Even though I've got three badges myself, I'm actually not that interested in getting them."

"Then why do you?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. Mainly cos there isn't much else I _can _do."

"Of course there is!" I insisted. "You can do _anything _you want!"

I briefly wondered why I was playing counsellor to this girl I had only known for about five minutes, but I couldn't really let her be so down on herself.

"Not really," Jasmine said sadly. "I'm not that great of a trainer. I mean, I only got those three badges due to fluke more than anything else!" she added hastily, seeing me open my mouth to protest. "I don't even _like _battling."

"Then, what _do _you like? What do you really wanna do?" I was a little shocked at how different she was now from the pushy, eager, rather bossy girl I had known earlier. "_Jeez, I'm running into freakin' Jekyll and Hydes all over the place_!" Once again, I pondered whether the Universe was using me as a plaything for its own amusement.

Jasmine didn't look as if she knew how to answer that question. She seemed to think about it for a few minutes, absent-mindedly stroking Skittle. Then eventually she came out with "I wanna travel!"

"Travel…" I repeated sceptically. "But isn't that what you're doing here?"

"Not _here_! Somewhere else! I want to see other regions! I wish I could go to places like Hoenn! You're so lucky to be going there! Well, I mean…" she suddenly broke off, embarrassed, as if afraid of insulting me or something. "I know you're not exactly going for pleasure…but still…I'd love to go there."

"Well…" I don't know what made me suggest this. Maybe I was still feeling a little bit sorry for myself after having to say goodbye to Elliot? Maybe the thought of travelling alone now that I had been used to the company of Elliot and the old man was just scary to me? Whatever it was, I ended up asking her "Why don't you come with me, then?"

Her mouth dropped at the suggestion. "No! No, I couldn't impose on you!"

"Aw, come on." I appealed. "If it's what you want, then what's stopping you? And besides, I could use a little bit of company."

"But..." she was wringing her hands nervously. "We barely know each other. A…an….and I can't just jet off to another region without telling anyone!"

"Well, you stayed with me after my little accident all day and half the night, so that makes you a pretty good friend in my book. And you can easily phone anyone you want and tell them, can't you? Stop making excuses, Jasmine. If you want to do it, who's stopping you?"

She looked at me. "But are you sure…you want me around? After I nearly killed you?"

"Don't be ridiculous. You didn't nearly kill me, _Meloi _nearly killed me. Come on, what's the deal? Come with us! It'll be fun!"

"Well, if you're sure…"

"How many times do I have to say it? You can come! I _want _you to come."

"O…okay then. I'll go with you." She relented, a little excited smile appearing on her face.

"Awesome!" I said. I reached out to her. "Shake on it?"

She took my hand and shook it nervously. I winced and squealed slightly as her fingers practically crushed mine in the sealing of the deal.

* * *

**Author's Note**

**Again, I don't have much to say here. I know the last couple of chapters is just filler. But we're getting back to the action now!**

**It's the beginning of Sienna and Jasmine's travels together!**


	14. Happy Silence

I ended up staying in the hospital for a few days. I didn't mind as much as I thought I would. Jasmine was good company, and after all, I could afford to lose a few days. There still wasn't any news coming in from Hoenn that could relate to whatever incident Mum had spoken about in her letter, so as far as I saw, I was still all right for time. So long as I made sure to get to Vermillion City as _soon _as I got out of the hospital.

Of course, when I inevitably found myself doubting the practicality of having Jasmine tagging along to Hoenn, she was quick to assure me she wouldn't get in the way. We made the arrangement that we would travel together until one or the other of us found another path to take. She decided that if I wanted her to, she would leave as soon as I found my mum and dad, or came close to finding them, if she was getting in the way. I was happy that she was willing to make sacrifices for me and what I wanted to do, but I assured her in return I wouldn't drop her like a hot brick as soon as I found something better to do.

I wasn't lonely in the hospital at all. I even got a visit from the old man who had given me Aurora, who seemed vaguely amused at the situation I had been in. As well as that, I had Jasmine, of course. We got to know each other pretty well in the couple of days I was in hospital. She came to visit me every day and we spent hours getting to know each other. She was a pretty strong trainer in her own right with six Pokemon of her own. I'd only seen two of them in person, her female starter Bulbasaur which she named Heather. She had received her for a birthday present on her 14th birthday. And of course, Skittle I already knew. She was pretty knowledgeable about Pokemon too, and managed to teach me how to use the Water Pulse TM on Aurora, which I was very happy with.

After finally being discharged from hospital, I was glad to discover that I wouldn't suffer any long-time or permanent scarring from the explosion, thank Goodness. Another happy discovery was that Jasmine knew exactly how to get from Cerulean to Vermillion, having already made the journey twice before, considering she had beaten the Gym Leader there.

Something I wasn't so happy to learn was the prices of the ferry tickets to Hoenn. We had consulted the computer in the Cerulean Pokemon Centre for the prices, and were appalled at them. The money Misty gave me for my win wouldn't even begin to cover _one_ ticket, let alone two. My suggestion at robbing a bank was met on deaf ears and even earned me a tiny shock from Meloi for my cheek. I definitely didn't know she was so righteous, but Jasmine freaked out at Meloi shocking me, especially since I was out of the hospital so quickly.

We decided then that the best way, and the only legal way, to obtain money was to battle trainers along the way to Vermillion. I hadn't known up until that point that trainers who lost a battle were forced into handing over half their money to the winning trainer! I was bewildered and immediately I had remembered the battle I had had with Elliot! I didn't hand over any money to him when I lost! But then again, he hadn't said anything to me about it when I lost…I was perplexed. I made a little mental note to pay Elliot what I owed him next time I saw him.

We moved south from Cerulean City down Route 5, looking for trainers. We didn't have to look very far, as the grassy route was filled with trainers, lounging about drinking lemonade and sparkling water. A lot of trainers were bored, eager for battle. At first, I was a little reluctant, suddenly feeling nervous. I mean, after all, I'd only ever battled properly twice, once against Elliot which I'd lost, and once against Misty which I'd won by a fluke. With a success rate of 50%, I wasn't exactly optimistic about battling. I watched Jasmine battle a fair share of trainers, using the excuse that I already had a decent amount of money already.

Jasmine, although she said she didn't like battling, knew that this was a necessary action and threw herself into it. She was a good battler too, losing none of her fights, alternating between Heather, her Bulbasaur and Skittle, the Skitty. Then with a big smile, she took my money off me and told me it was my turn. I was a little surprised when she told me we were cheating the system; she claimed no-one could take half my money if I didn't have any in the first place! I felt horrible at first for being dishonest, but I understood where she was coming from, and felt better when she told me almost _everyone _who was clever did it.

I won the first two battles with little difficulty, considering my first two opponents used Fire type Pokemon, and Aurora with her new Water Pulse move made quick work of them. But a thunder bolt attack from a trainer with a Pokemon known as Raichu meant that poor Aurora was knocked out quickly after hitting only one attack. I handed over half my money to the smug trainer _very _reluctantly.

"Pah. You should've won that battle." Jasmine said sulkily as we healed our Pokemon back at the Cerulean Centre.

"But I had the type disadvantage." I pointed out.

"Yeah, well that stupid trainer made his Raichu evolve too fast!" she huffed.

I frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Pikachu only evolve into Raichu through using Thunder Stones on them," she explained, crossing her arms. "And that guy made his Pokemon evolve too quickly!"

"How could you tell?"

"It was obvious! Yeah, the Raichu had pretty powerful electric attacks, but it was so _slow_! Couldn't you see how slow it was?"

"Um, no, I was too busy trying to make Aurora actually battle and stop clapping her flippers every five seconds."

"Well, no offence to your Aurora, but a fully evolved Raichu should have been able to avoid _any _attacks she sent its way easily! But her Powder Snow attack hit!"

"Are you sure it's not just because Aurora is stronger than she looks? It could happen you know," I said, as we made our way back down Route 5.

"No. Trust me, I can tell. That Pokemon was evolved too quickly. That's where so many trainers go wrong. They think its all about fighting and getting strong and try and evolve their Pokemon quickly. Then when they do evolve they realise that their Pokemon missed out on learning loads of moves it could only learn when it was younger. I'm _never _going to let my Pokemon evolve!" she declared passionately.

I wasn't really listening at that point. Evolving to me always seemed like the quick fix solution to getting strong. As soon as I got Meloi I was eager for her to evolve. Same with Aurora. But from what Jasmine was saying, evolving wasn't always the best route to take. And considering what huge changes to a Pokemon's physical appearance came about from evolution, I wasn't sure I wanted them to evolve anymore. I hated to admit it, but I had grown quite used to Meloi and Aurora the way they were.

We battled for a while longer at Route 5. I used Meloi this time in the battles. I only lost the last one, losing out to a trainer and its well trained, probably over-levelled Eevee. However, it wasn't all bad. I had spotted Jasmine and her Skittle battling a Pokemon known as Hoppip. which had a small pink body and long green sprouts coming out of its head. The Hoppip had used an attack called Cotton Spore to release cotton like spores that clung to Skittle's body, making it difficult for the kitten Pokemon to move. Meloi had been watching too, and to my immense surprise, used the attack on the Eevee she battled! I wasn't even overly bothered when I lost the battle; I was so happy and proud of Meloi for learning a new move! I was even happier when the trainer I battled waved away the money I offered him, claiming he didn't need it. I was a little taken aback…how much money was _in _Pokemon battling if he didn't need mine?

We were satisfied with the progress we'd made as the evening began drawing in, and we decided to skip ahead of Saffron City and take the underground path which in itself, proved hairy to say the least. The place was crawling with tough trainers, taking advantage of the darkness to jump any unwitting trainers travelling underground. We fell victim to it a few times, but the trainers didn't prove to be much of a challenge and we managed to emerge from the underground tunnel tired and a little cranky, but more or less unscathed. Also, by this time we had accumulated enough money from battling to fund our trip to Hoenn, so we were doubly happy!

We emerged just short of Vermillion at Route 6. The path down into Vermillion was a long, winding path, coiled into an S shape. The place was covered in tall grass and we picked our way across cautiously. Our Pokemon weren't that tired, but we trainers certainly were. We avoided the gaze of the trainers milling around and sprinted the last little while until we came into the city.

We arrived into the seafront city just as it was coming close to late evening. The sun was dipping just into the horizon, bathing the whole city in bright red light. It was a spectacular sight. However, Jasmine wasn't as eager to take in the sights, after all, she had already seen them once before, and dragged me into the Pokemon Centre for a meal and some rest.

After stuffing ourselves silly, we took Pokemon food upstairs to the double room we had requested for the night's stay. The double room was just as basic as the single, with two little beds as opposed to just one.

"Do you mind if I release all my Pokemon?" Jasmine asked, perching at the end of one of the little beds.

"How else are you gonna feed them?" I asked, sprawled out on the other bed, rolling Meloi and Aurora's Pokeballs across my stomach.

"Good point," she said, unhooking all six Pokeballs from her waist.

"Besides," I carried on. "I've been interested in seeing what other Pokemon you have besides Heather and Skittle."

"Really?" she frowned. "Then why didn't you just ask?"

"I dunno." I shrugged. "I didn't want to seem rude. Or nosy."

"Honestly!" she sighed. "We're friends, Sienna! You could've just asked!"

I contemplated this. "Nah. Guess I was just waiting for the big dramatic reveal." I rolled over on the bed to face her. "Come on. I wanna see."

"Okay," she said, blushing as if embarrassed. "Well, Heather and Skittle you already knew." She released the Bulbasaur and the Skitty whom I had gotten to know over the days I was in hospital. Skittle was a very clingy Pokemon, always wanting to be near Jasmine or her other Pokemon. Heather was a very independent Bulbasaur who had a seemingly endless appetite and acted rather like an unofficial leader, often smacking Skittle with her vines when he wasn't behaving.

"Hey guys," I grinned, scratching Skittle under his chin and tossing a pellet of Pokemon food to an awaiting Heather. I looked up to Jasmine. "Well, go on then. I'm eager to see who else!"

"Well, this is the Pokemon I used to win at the Electric Pokemon Gym here," she said, carefully picking out a Pokeball and throwing it to floor.

"Sand! Sandshrew!"

What looked like a small, sandy coloured mouse sat in front of me. It had a tough hide but a soft looking underbelly with sharpened claws at the ends of its paws.

"This is my Sandshrew." Jasmine introduced us to save me reaching for my Pokedex. Good thing too, it was all the way over in my bag at the other end of the room. "I found him in Mount Moon. His name is Terra."

"Ah! That's clever!" I commented, privately thinking it was a far cleverer nickname than she'd come up with for Heather and Skittle. "Terra as in the Latin for "land"! Very smart!"

"Yup!" she giggled.

Terra gave me a wayward look and then squealed and hid as soon as I reached out to pat him. Jasmine frowned. "Sorry…" she apologised. "He's a little skittish…"

I shrugged. "It's okay. He's probably just not used to strangers."

Jasmine smiled at me.

"Okay, so that's Heather, Skittle and Terra. Who else?"

"This is a Pokemon I am actually amazed I have," she took another Pokeball from the collection remaining on her bed. "It's not seen here. It's only found in Johto, and it's pretty rare even there. It's normally given out as a starting Pokemon there. I got it in a trade from some rich boy in Johto."

She tossed the ball to the floor. A moment later….

"Cynda! Cyndaquil!"

A small Pokemon with fire coming out of its back with blue fur on the top of its body and cream coloured fur on its underbelly came from the Pokeball.

"This is Sulphur." She announced proudly.

"Cynda! Cyndaquil!" the Pokemon said eagerly and then suddenly sneezed, snorting a tiny blast of fire from its nostrils. Although small, it was big enough to set the bedclothes on fire. Both of us trainers shrieked, I fell off the bed, scrambling for Aurora's Pokeball. The other Pokemon scuttled to the end of the room, screaming and whining in fear.

"Go, Aurora!" I threw her Pokeball.

And at the same time, Jasmine threw a Pokeball. "Go, Mizu!"

Aurora and Jasmine's Pokemon burst out of the Pokeballs. At the exact same time we both yelled "Water Gun!" and the two Pokemon obliged, easily putting out the fire, but almost destroying the bed in the process. Jasmine and I looked warily at each other and sighed whilst Aurora clapped her flippers happily and Jasmine's blue spherical mouse Pokemon chattered mindlessly.

"Well, this saves you the introduction," Jasmine said sheepishly. "And sorry about Sulphur…he seems to have a permanent cold all the time. Added to that, he's got a really sensitive nose. The tiniest things make him sneeze."

"_Brilliant. That's just what we need. A fire type with a sensitive nose_." I thought.

"Anyway, this is Mizu." Jasmine carried on, oblivious to my dark thoughts. "She's another Pokemon not native here. My dad got her for me."

"Marill! Marill!" Mizu waved her jagged tail back and forth, the blue bubble like thing on the end of it bobbing up and down.

"Spheal! Spheal!" Aurora clapped her flippers together and literally two seconds later, both Mizu and Aurora were rolling themselves all around the room, taking advantage of their spherical shapes. Jasmine and I watched them for a moment, as did the other Pokemon, a bit warily.

"I get the feeling they're gonna hit it off nicely," I grinned.

"I think so!" Jasmine grinned.

"So, that's Heather the Bulbasaur, Skittle the Skitty, Terra the Sandshrew, Sulpher the Cyndaquil and Mizu the Marill. There's one more, right?"

"Indeed there is! Come out!" she tossed her last Pokeball to the floor.

"Drow…zee?"

A bipedal Pokemon appeared from the Pokeball. Half the Pokemon's body was yellow, the lower half brown. It had tired looking eyes and a trunk above its mouth, a round belly and stubby legs and arms.

"This is Nightshade, my Drowzee."

"Nightshade?" I gasped. That sounded ominous.

"Yeah. I caught him up in that grass nearby. Found him on Route 6 last time I came through the underground path."

"But why…Nightshade?"

"Cos he eats people's dreams." She said casually.

"He….WHAT?"

"Oh, no! It's okay! He only does it when ordered in battle."

"Oh…okay…" I still didn't trust the look on that Drowzee's face, but if Jasmine trusted him, I didn't have much choice but to trust him too.

I released Meloi for her food, and she immediately started growling in the face of all these strange Pokemon, but she backed down when she realised she was hopelessly outnumbered and her only possible backup (Aurora) was having too much fun rolling around the room to help her.

We fed the Pokemon and managed to avoid any more potential disasters, especially ones involving Meloi's temper and Sulphur's tendency to set things on fire. It was fun watching the Pokemon interacting and seeing all of Jasmine's Pokemon's personalities. It was especially funny when they tried to steal food off each other, which resulted in a few stand offs, but nothing got out of hand, thankfully. It was times like this I was almost…glad I became a trainer. I felt happy. When night fell and it was time for bed, I felt more content than I had in a long time. Aurora and Meloi snuggled up next to me, Aurora even trying to bury herself under the sheets with me. It was companionable lying there in the dark with the occasional snuffle and snore coming from the Pokemon. I rolled over and let out a contented sigh. I felt happy. At peace. Like nothing could spoil this glorious happy silence I had found.

Well, nothing until the following morning, that is.

"WHAT DO YOU _MEAN _THERE'S NO FERRIES AVAILABLE UNTIL NEXT WEEK?"

* * *

**Author's Note**

**Mainly character development here. And getting the introduction of Jasmine's team out of the way.**

**I don't have much to say here either...**


	15. Hitting Brick Walls

Much to our dismay when we arrived at the ferry terminal early the following morning, we discovered that we had actually _missed _the latest ferry! When we arrived in Vermillion the day before, we had arrived in the evening. And the ferry had sailed _that_ morning. And now the people in the terminal building were telling us that the next ferry wouldn't be sailing for another three days!

"But I don't have _time _to wait that long!" I fumed at the people in charge.

"We're sorry, miss, but the next scheduled sailing isn't until three days from now." The lady behind the desk reiterated.

"But I can't wait that long!" I insisted, practically clawing at the glass window separating me from the desk lady.

"Sienna, it's okay!" Jasmine plastered a huge fake grin on her face, attempting to keep up a good impression. "It's only three days! Nothing will happen in those three days, I assure you."

"Well, if it does I'm gonna sue all your arses back to the Stone Age!" I screamed, as Jasmine forcefully dragged me from the terminal office.

"Damn you and that super strength of yours, Jasmine." I sulked as we trudged our way back to the Pokemon Centre. "Where _do _you get it from?"

She could only shrug. "I don't know."

"So, what are we gonna do for three days?" I asked, kicking a rock across the path.

"Why don't you challenge the Gym Leader here?"

"Are you kidding? I've had enough Gym Battles to last me a lifetime. Besides, how am I supposed to beat off a whole swarm of Electric Pokemon with one Water and Ice type and an Electric type?"

"Okay, okay, bad idea." Jasmine admitted. "Well…we could do some more battling? If you want to make sure the two of us aren't wiped out when we set foot in Hoenn we should probably train our Pokemon. Especially since all our Pokemon are in their first evolution. I mean _none _of our Pokemon have evolved yet."

"I thought you were against evolution? Whatever happened to "I'm not ever going to let my Pokemon evolve", eh?"

"I _am _against evolution. I want to raise my Pokemon they way they are, the way they are intended to be raised. But I don't know…what your views are on the subject."

"I don't know." I replied truthfully. "At first, I really wanted my Pokemon to evolve and get strong. But I don't know now. I kind of want them to stay the same. But it's inevitable, isn't it? They're gonna evolve _someday_ aren't they?"

"Maybe. Apparently there is a way to stop it. I've heard of trainers giving their Pokemon some sort of stone to hold, similar to a Thunder Stone or a Water Stone. But these stones don't make Pokemon evolve, they _stop _it. But I don't know what it is or where to find it…"

I pondered this.

"So…if you don't wanna battle the Gym Leader and you don't wanna train, what _do _you wanna do? I don't think you're the kind of person to just sit around doing nothing, are you?"

"I'm not. But I think Meloi and Aurora are fine. I want to give them a break from all this battling and that. Ah! I know!" I snapped my fingers with an idea. "I'll catch another Pokemon!"

"Oh, that's a great idea!" Jasmine enthused, practically jumping up and down. "I know the best place for catching loads of cool Pokemon!" She grabbed my arm and began tearing ahead to Route 6. "Come on, come with me!"

Seriously, after only two days of travelling with that girl, I was really surprised that all my limbs were still attached. I was beginning to feel like a ragdoll.

"Here we are!" She announced proudly when we arrived at Route 6, like she'd just single-handedly navigated to the top of Mount Moon. "This is an excellent place to catch Pokemon!"

I looked around at the tall grass, the prickly bushes and the huge trees expectantly. "I don't see any." I commented, folding my arms.

"You gotta be patient and _flush _them out!" she grinned.

""Flush" them out? What are you talking about?"

"Huh?" she looked at me. "Don't tell me you've never caught a Pokemon in the _wild _before?"

I shook my head.

"So where did you get that Spheal from?"

"An old man."

She blinked. "Are you serious?"

"Yep."

She groaned. "Great. This is gonna be fun."

"What types of Pokemon even live out here anyway?" I looked around, nervously, suddenly afraid of what might come jumping out at us.

"I don't know! I don't keep tabs on everything, you know?"

"But you caught that Drowzee of yours here, didn't you?"

"Yes, but that was a total fluke. And it was at _night_!"

"What difference does that make?" I was close to screaming.

"Different Pokemon come out at night! Did you not know that? That's like Trainer 101!"

"No, I didn't know that cos I never had any _interest _in Pokemon before this!"

The two of us ended up glaring at each other for a while. I sighed and eventually gave in. "Okay." I said slowly. "How are we supposed to _flush _these Pokemon out?"

She shrugged. "Normally I just get jumped by them. But sometimes if you make enough noise or movement, they'll come out."

"Wait…" I envisioned a flaw in that plan. "Won't they _attack _us if we just randomly start making a lot of noise and jumping around?"

"Yeah. But that's kind of the plan, isn't it?"

"If you say so…" I'll be honest; I was _not _comfortable going Pokemon hunting with Jasmine. I could see another trip to hospital on the cards, this time for getting mauled by Rattata or Spearow or Ekans or whatever other nasties were just waiting for us in amongst all that greenery…

Our first attempt, to use Jasmine's phrase, at flushing the Pokemon out consisted of me and her just randomly poking our heads into the undergrowth and the tall grass, making very silly and loud noises at the top of our lungs. However, considering the odd looks we got from the passers-by, and after we disturbed a nest of Rattata, resulting in a lot of running and a lot of annoyingly painful Rattata bites, we soon gave up on that bright idea. We laughed about it at first and in hindsight, we realised that two good things came from that. One, we didn't get challenged by passing by trainers as they were probably too afraid of getting too close to us in case they caught some kind of crazy disease. And two, I discovered I didn't want a Rattata after being chased halfway down the route by what looked like a _swarm _of them.

Attempt number two met with even less success. We decided to move further down the route to a promising patch of grass that twitched and shifted occasionally. Still stinging from our surprise Rattata attack, we decided to release a few Pokemon for protection. Why we hadn't done that from the start, I'll never know. I released Meloi of course, as I didn't have time to baby-sit Aurora who probably would have made a beeline for the nearby pond given half a chance, and Jasmine released Sulphur. Now you've probably already noticed the potential for disaster here, yes? But we were so caught up in the excitement of it all, that we didn't realise it was a bad idea. When we dared to get close enough to the twitching patch of feathery grass, Jasmine had Sulphur go investigate for us. It was a terrible move on her part. The feathery grass aggravated Sulphur's already sensitive nose and he sneezed. That doesn't sound bad, I know, but considering Jasmine's Cyndaquil sneezes _fire_, it was a disaster. He set the patch of grass on fire, and before we could even attempt to put it out, a flock of Spearow that had been nesting in the nearby trees freaked out at the fire so close to their habitat. And of course, Spearow aren't exactly renowned for their calm nature. They attacked us. They pecked at us, clawed at us, everything. They chased us halfway across the city before they gave up and returned to their nest. And to add insult to injury, when we limped back, bruised and bleeding, a group of elite trainers mocked us for starting the fire and took all the glory for putting it out. We really found it difficult coming up with positives to equate to that attempt. I already hated Spearow, and after two Pokemon attacks in quick succession, patience was wearing thin. The only good thing, at a stretch, that Jasmine managed to come up with was the knowledge now that tickly feathery things affected her Cyndaquil's sensitive nose. What a genius she was for figuring _that _out.

The third attempt…I don't even want to talk about the third attempt. We decided to stay away from the tall grass and decided to investigate the bushes and trees around a large pool of water to see what Pokemon were around there. Jasmine had a less subtle approach than I did, and was pretty much sticking her head in the water to see what was lurking, despite my insisting that I didn't want any more Water Pokemon. I sighed, realising it was better to leave her to it and started poking around in the bushes next to the pond. I warned Meloi fiercely to stay away and not interfere. At this point my temper was getting the better of me, and I was ripping plants apart, trying to wade into the undergrowth to see if I could find anything. But when I reached out to grab a particular clump of glossy leaves, it suddenly came alive! I shrieked as I was suddenly holding a wriggling blue bulb.

"Oddish?" the bulb said, confused.

I shrieked again, tossed the bulb away and hastily backed off. Of course, I didn't bother turning around. I just ran backwards. I didn't see Jasmine still kneeling at the water's edge and I hit into her. I flew backwards over her and landed in the water! I screamed as my body hit the water and I flailed desperately. It wasn't _deep_, but the sudden plunge scared me. Jasmine, knowing my fear, reached out to me to help me up, but in my terror, I grabbed her too hard. I pulled her too hard. She came flying into the water with me! I clung to her desperately, almost crying with my fear. Of course, with me suctioned onto her, she couldn't exactly move with ease to get us out the water. I was eventually ferried over to the bank by Jasmine's Mizu and rather unceremoniously shoved back onto dry land.

So by the end of the third attempt, we were soaking wet, cold, covered in grass and mud, covered in Rattata bites and scratches from Spearows, and seriously disillusioned with the whole idea of catching Pokemon here.

"Whose idea was this again?" I asked, wringing water from my red hair.

"….mine." She sighed guiltily.

I tried to force a laugh. "Well…this is fun, isn't it?"

"Hilarious." She deadpanned.

"I didn't think catching a Pokemon in the wild would be this messy." I said, looking at my sodden jeans and t-shirt, also smeared with mud and grass. "Or this painful…" I sighed, my eyes drifting to the scratches and bite marks all over my arms.

"I don't get why you didn't capture the Oddish." Jasmine said. "It was still standing around looking at us after we got out the water."

"I'm not capturing anything that sent me flying into the water."

"_Technically _it wasn't the Oddish's fault."

"I'm still not capturing a grass type." I insisted. "As a matter of fact, I give _up _on capturing Pokemon here! I've had enough pain and suffering _already _today to spend any more time looking for Pokemon here! I'll catch some when we get to Hoenn! And not before!"

"Fine…have it your way." She said, shrugging off my mini tantrum. She stood up and investigated her clothes. "Euch. We're both in a total mess. Do you have any spare clothes at the Pokemon centre?"

"Yeah. But they're all in a pretty sorry state, similar to these."

"All right. First thing tomorrow we're gonna have to clean all our clothes! Oh! And we should take a trip up to Celadon!"

"Celadon? Why?"

"To get some supplies for the journey! And some new clothes and everything. We can't exactly go to a whole other region looking like a couple of scruffs! After all, we're ambassadors for Kanto!"

"…You're just looking for an excuse to buy new clothes, aren't you?"

"A little bit, yeah." She grinned.

"All right, all right…" I relented. "We'll travel up to Celadon tomorrow. That is…do you know how to get there?"

"Of course I do! Well…more or less."

"That sounds promising."

"It's east of Saffron!" she said. "I mean, I've been there a few times. It's a brilliant place for shopping. But there's often a lot of shady characters there…cos of that Game Corner. That's also the place where Team Rocket had their hideout!"

"Team Rocket?"

"Yeah! Didn't you hear of all the big scandal up there? It was all over the news! This group of people were stealing other people's Pokemon!"

"Oh my Goodness, that's awful!"

"Yeah. But thankfully some brave boy managed to stop them and after that, Team Rocket disappeared off the face of the earth…what was it…three or four years ago? I can't remember."

"Hmm…" I made a little impressed noise. "Cool."

"Anyway, it's decided. Tomorrow we'll travel to Celadon! It'll be fun!"

"If you say so,"

"Come on; let's go back to the Pokemon Centre. I'm starving!"

At Jasmine's summons, the two of us began our way back to the Pokemon Centre. It was getting late now and Jasmine didn't want to be parading around Route 6 at night. I can't say I was awfully keen either after learning from Jasmine that Drowzees often came out to play on that route at night. I wasn't disappointed in my inability to capture a Pokemon, I was now too tired and annoyed to care. Besides, if all the route had to offer were vicious Rattatas and Spearows, strange walking bulb Pokemon and creepy looking Drowzees, I didn't _want _to catch anything here. With that, I trudged back to the Pokemon Centre. It was a longer walk than we had anticipated; we hadn't realised how far we had travelled on the route, and we were both tired. And to make it worse, night was falling faster than we had thought. Jasmine was panicking more and more as the skies darkened, but I tried to calm her down, assuring her that nothing was going to come after us. It seemed to do the trick…until we heard a rustling sound coming from _right _next to us.

"Wh…what was that?" Jasmine shrieked, grabbing on to me.

"It was probably nothing." I said, trying to keep my voice calm and flippant, like nothing was wrong. "Just keep walking."

I gave her a tiny shove to encourage her to move and soon we were walking again. But only a few steps later, the rustling came again. This time, I couldn't feign bravery. The two of us froze in our steps.

"Do you call _that _nothing?" she hissed, watching the patch of grass suddenly began shaking.

"It's okay…it couldn't be anything worse than those Spearows or Rattatas…could it?" I asked warily.

"It could be a _lot _worse! Come on, let's _go_!" And with that, she grabbed my arm and took off at a run.

However, whatever was hiding in that grass wasn't too happy to see us go. Suddenly the bushes all around us shook violently before three dark shapes leapt out at us! I screamed. Jasmine screamed. The dark shapes sped towards us with incredible speed and agility and without warning; one of them threw itself at me. Sharp teeth embedded in my arm and I screamed, trying to whatever it was off my arm. The pain was so great I couldn't reach for Meloi or Aurora's Pokeballs and I momentarily cursed my decision to return them earlier.

I saw a quick burst of bright light and I heard Jasmine shouting frenzied instructions to her Cyndaquil. A few seconds later the night sky was lit up with blasts of fire and I caught a glance of the thing that was biting my arm. I screamed as I saw what looked like the face of a monster hanging off my arm! At that point, adrenaline kicked in and I eventually managed to shake the huge heavy thing off, sending it flying in the opposite direction. While it was recovering, I pulled Meloi's Pokeball from its place at my waist and threw it into the darkness. Night had suddenly fallen and I could barely see anymore; the only light came from the occasional burst of flame courtesy of Sulphur. The dark shape was moving incredibly fast, zigzagging in seemingly random patterns. It was too fast for me even to predict its movements. I'd have to slow it down! Looks like I had finally found the perfect opportunity to try out Meloi's new move!

"Meloi! Cotton Spore!"

"Mareep!"

Meloi's aim had always been dead on and this time was no exception. The thick puffs of cotton easily found their way to the monster like thing, sticking to its body, hindering its movement.

"All right, Meloi! Take it down with Thunder Shock!"

I had expected her to easily win this fight. I had anticipated the move to knock the creature out, but somehow even though the lightning attack hit the strange creature; it wasn't even bothered by it and retaliated by slamming its head straight into Meloi's flank. Even then I wasn't that worried, convinced that Meloi's static would paralyse the creature, but the creature escaped unscathed. Meloi wasn't so lucky. She was knocked to the side and didn't get up again. I desperately looked back to Jasmine, but she was too busy fending off the two other strange creatures to notice me.

I didn't have much choice now. I had used Meloi on the assumption she would be able to knock out this strange creature in one blow! But now Meloi was unconscious and Jasmine was preoccupied with whatever she was battling! I'd rather not submit Aurora to this manic creature that was now hissing and spitting at me, but I didn't have a choice! My hand reached for Aurora's Pokeball at my waist. But suddenly the creature pounced at me! In my panic, I grabbed the wrong Pokeball! And in my defence, I did the only, albeit irrational thing I could think of doing.

I threw the Pokeball at the black shadow.

There was a loud screech, a vicious hiss, a flash of bright light. From the dim light coming from nearby I saw the Pokeball shaking furiously back and forth. I hardly dared breathe. Then suddenly, the ball calmed and a _ding_ echoed.

I stared dumbly at the motionless Pokeball. Had I just…caught that vicious creature?

"Sienna?" Jasmine was suddenly at my side. The other creatures had disappeared into the darkness, defeated and whimpering. "Ar…are you okay?"

"I'm okay…" I said, mostly on autopilot.

"I wonder what the hell attacked us!" She wondered, recalling Sulphur to his Pokeball. I did the same for Meloi, somewhat automatically. She caught sight of the Pokeball sitting idly nearby, illuminated by the faint light. "Hey, whose Pokeball is that?"

"Mine." I said flatly. "I think I just _caught _whatever just attacked us."

"Ah…" she said, sounding worried. "_That _might just cause a problem."

"You bet it will," I said, picking up the Pokeball and staring at this unknown, totally unexpected, most likely problematic addition to my team.

I know what you're thinking. Whatever happened to "I'll catch Pokemon when I'm in Hoenn and not before"?

Yep, fate sure is a fickle friend.

* * *

**Author's Note**

**Notice: All updates are temporary suspended for a week or two! Sorry to anyone still reading.**

**Big thank you to shdwphoenix for my first review in what felt like ages! Also, I totally understand where you're coming from about the description of the Pokemon, it was beginning to bother _me _as well, so I'm going to change my approach to scenes like that. Thanks for the motivation, and advice, to actually do something about it!**


	16. Putting the Fun In Dsyfunctional

"So…are you gonna let that thing out of its Pokeball or what?"

"Are you kidding? I don't have a death wish!"

"Well…" Jasmine leant back against the wall of our double room, Skittle happily rubbing its head into her hand. "Surely you _have _to know what Pokemon you captured sooner or later. You can't leave it cooped up in its Pokeball forever, that's cruel!"

It was the morning after the wild creature attack and still in our pyjamas after eating a quick breakfast; Jasmine was trying to convince me to let the vicious beast out of its Pokeball so we could identify what species it was. However, I was adamant the thing was staying in its Pokeball.

"The thing tried to _maul _me to death!" I waved my bitten arm at Jasmine dramatically, showing off the bloody marks still prominent against my pale skin.

"It was probably more scared of us than we were scared of it."

I blinked at her. "Are you serious? I was _petrified _of the thing! And I'm _not _releasing it! It'll probably tear me _and _my Pokemon to pieces."

"Oh, ye of little faith." She said flippantly, bringing her knees up to her chin.

I grumbled at her, setting the beast's Pokeball on the little bedside table. The room was mostly devoid of Pokemon life, the only one being Skittle. I was allowing Meloi some extra rest in light of the attack she sustained the previous day, and to be honest, I wasn't up to keeping both eyes and one in the back of my head on Aurora. She was becoming overly mischievous lately, and I wasn't in the mood for her nonsense.

Jasmine decided to try a different tactic on me "Look, if _you _don't want to release the Pokemon—"

"The beast," I corrected her.

"…the beast, then." She sighed. "Give the Pokeball to me and _I'll _do it."

"I'm not leaving you to the mercy of that thing!"

She just shot me a look, oddly reminiscent of Meloi's death glares. "It's just a _Pokemon_, Sienna."

"That almost _killed _me!"

"I think you're being a little melodramatic." She said, sliding off the bed. "Hey, I thought we were going to Celadon today?"

"Are you kidding? Celadon's like a hundred miles away!"

I had checked the map and had discovered that Celadon was a _lot _farther way than we had anticipated. Saffron and Vermillion were at pretty close proximity to each other, so it wouldn't have taken that long to get to Saffron if we travelled on the underground path. Somehow taking the underground path cut the journey time in half as opposed to going cross country. But, getting to Celadon would mean days, maybe even a week of travelling! And with a ferry to catch within two days…it couldn't be done.

"Oh yeah…" She sighed. "Ohh, I wish I had a Rapidash to ride on…or even better, a Pidgeot to fly around on! I bet flying is fun!"

"It is, actually." I said without really thinking.

"You've flown on the back of a Pokemon!" she enthused. "That's amazing! When? Where? How?"

"Calm down," I winced as she gradually got louder and louder. I'd forgotten to tell her about Elliot and my ride with him. I found myself blushing slightly at the thought of him, but quickly tried to banish that thought. "There was this guy I met, well not really _met_, I knew him from when I was a kid…we ended up seeing each other up in Pewter and he gave me a lift to Cerulean…on his Dragonite."

Jasmine looked shocked. "He had a _Dragonite_!"

"It wasn't _his_!" I remedied. "He had it on loan from his big brother to get around the region. He says he's challenging the Elite Four once he beats the last gym."

"Wow!" she breathed out in awe. "That's amazing! We'll have to keep an eye out on the television to see if he makes it to the League! Can you imagine if he wins? You'll be the friend of the _Champion_!"

I smiled wanly. "That would be pretty cool…but I think I have more important things to watch on the television. Mainly the Hoenn news…"

She nodded. "Yeah. You've got a point. Did you see anything this morning?"

I shook my head. "Nothing. I'm starting to wonder if anything _is _going to happen."

"Well, we'll just have to wait and see," Jasmine said with a philosophical air. "Anyway…since it's too far to Celadon and it's still another two days until the ferry goes…how about we do something _fun_?"

"Like what?" I replied unenthusiastically.

"Like letting that Pokemon out of its Pokeball!" Jasmine made a sudden dive for the beast's Pokeball I had left idly on the bedside cabinet. I couldn't move quick enough to stop her and the Pokeball was soon clutched in her eager hands.

"Jasmine! Give me that back!" I lunged for the Pokeball, but I missed completely and ended up on the floor.

"I wanna see what Pokemon you caught!" she insisted, holding the Pokeball just short of my reach.

I cursed as I jumped uselessly to try and get it. _Why _was I so short?

"Jasmine, that thing will have us on the floor by our _throats_ if we let it out!"

"You need to have a little more faith!" Jasmine was still insisting, and before I could protest she threw the Pokeball to the floor.

I made an involuntary squeak as the Pokemon emerged from the blast of white light. I found myself staring into the narrow feline eyes of a Pokemon even _I _couldn't fail to identify.

"Holy Hell!" I screeched.

"Wow! I can't believe you caught a Persian!"

I fully expected the mountain lion cat to freak out at seeing me again, but instead, it simply sat back on its haunches and began vainly licking its fur. I swallowed and consulted my Pokedex for a little more information.

"_Persian, the Classy Cat Pokemon. Many adore it for its sophisticated air. However, it will lash out and scratch for little reason._"

"Oh, this is brilliant!" I cried out, falling back on my bed. "Now I've got a Mareep that shocks me for no reason, a Spheal that cares more about rolling around and having fun than battling, and now a Persian that'll probably scratch and bite the hell out of me! The universe hates me!"

"You really are a melodramatic person, aren't you?" Jasmine said, daring to give the Persian a tiny pat on its forehead. "It seems pretty calm."

"He," I corrected.

"He?"

"Yeah, it's a boy." I sighed deeply. "He's like level 16 or something. Which is pretty good actually…"

"What?" Jasmine frowned at me, absent-mindedly stroking the Persian. "That doesn't sound right. Level 16? Are you sure that's right?"

"Course it is," I handed the Pokedex over for her to consult.

She studied it. "Wow…it really is right…that's unusual for a fully evolved Persian to be at such a low level. I wonder what caused it…"

"I don't actually have a clue what you're talking about," I said, taking the Pokedex back from her, my eyes still firmly focused on the Persian.

"Persian don't normally evolve from Meowth until they're like level 28 or something…that's what I heard anyway. Must have been some kind of special circumstances that made it evolve prematurely…"

I didn't have time to ponder this as the Persian suddenly caught sight of me and growled. He must have seen something that he didn't like; perhaps my aura wasn't exactly in the pink or something, but he suddenly threw himself at me, hissing and spitting.

"Help!" I screamed as the Persian started scratching at me, raking its claws against my body. I tried to fight the vicious beast off, but its sleek fur and strong, athletic body made it difficult to get a firm grip on it.

"Aww, look! He likes you!" Jasmine cooed.

"Get him off me!" I screamed. "Persian, I am your trainer! You will listen to me and do what I say! And I say _get off me_!"

The Persian suddenly stopped in its tracks and stood over me, its claws slowly retracting into its pads. He then turned on his heel, stuck his whorled tail in the air and leapt off the bed. He fixed me with a cold, hard stare before resuming licking his fur.

"You're gonna have a whale of a time with that one." Jasmine grinned. "Persians are known for being incredibly vain. They're really popular with all those posh people, you know, cos they're so elegant and that. But Persians are really just predators underneath. Really difficult to train, too."

"Brilliant." I sighed, casting a watchful eye over the Persian. "Maybe I can just trade him for something a little easier to handle on the GPS or something…"

"No!" Jasmine protested so loudly and so unexpectedly that I almost fell off the bed again. The Persian looked up from his grooming, glared at Jasmine then resumed licking himself. Even Skittle whom up until this point had been watching the new addition to the team intently, looked up to see the source of the noise.

"You can't just give up the Persian!" Jasmine insisted. "You caught him! You can't just give up on him because you _think _he's going to have a difficult nature! You've gotta accept Pokemon for who they are! You'll make a huge mistake if you just give up on him! You'll regret it!"

For a moment, from the way she talked, I had a horrifying suspicion. Was she speaking from experience? Did she give up on a Pokemon because of its nature? It wasn't something I could ask her about, was it?

"Jasmine…"

"You have to accept all Pokemon for who they are." Jasmine reiterated firmly.

I was instantly reminded of my own passionate declaration way back when I stood in Professor Oak's lab. It felt like so long ago I had stood there and received Meloi, so long ago that I had promised to accept all Pokemon for who they were. I chuckled to myself. That statement really had come back to haunt me…But it did the trick. I mean, I had dealt with difficult natures before, look at Meloi for goodness sake. I could deal with this Persian, couldn't I?

"I won't give him up." I declared.

"Good," Jasmine drew back, satisfied.

Well, the Persian would be an interesting addition to my already dysfunctional team. I mean, I couldn't exactly pick any _normal _Pokemon, really, could I? There was Meloi who found it highly amusing to shock the life out of her trainer, and Aurora who was more like a little baby more than anything else and needed constant attention in case she rolled off somewhere. Somehow I had a sinking feeling that this vain, violent Persian would fit _right _in to my unorthodox team.

"Are you gonna nickname him?" Jasmine asked, stroking Skittle.

"Yeah," I replied. I dared to put my hand on Persian's head to see if he would let me stroke him, but he hissed and scratched at me to warn me off. "Jeez! Okay! Keep your fur on!" I retracted my hand sharply.

"Well, let's hear it. What's the nickname?"

I thought on it briefly. "Monty." I decided.

She frowned. "Monty?"

"Yeah. It sounds posh, doesn't it? Like Montgomery?"

"Okay…" she shrugged. "I don't get it, but what the hell. Your decision."

I looked at Monty with some reluctance. I shuffled along the side of the bed to get closer to him. I knew his tetchy nature was going to be a problem. Until he got used to being on the team, he'd probably be hissing and scratching all over the place.

"Monty," I said loudly, trying to get the Persian's attention. "Monty!" I repeated when the Persian ignored me. "Listen to me!"

The Persian slowly turned his head to me, its black rimmed ears twitching.

"Your name is Monty from now," I told him. "I'm your trainer now. You're on my team with Meloi and Aurora. We're looking for my mum, you understand?"

"He's not stupid, Sienna. Don't talk down to him," Jasmine advised.

"So, what do you say, Monty?" I asked him. "Fancy joining us?"

Monty looked at me, his head tilting to one side. For a moment I dared hope that this was a positive sign. But this was me. This was my luck. Things hadn't worked out positively for me since I'd gotten myself into this whole Pokemon trainer mess. Monty suddenly arched his back and his tail shot straight into the air. Next thing I knew the thing had pounced on me. I let out a screech as the tough, sharp nails began digging into my flesh, and Monty was clawing and biting at me like a demon!

"Yeah…" Jasmine commented as I tried to fend the large cat Pokemon off. "You're really gonna have a _whale _of a time with that one."

* * *

**Author's Note**

**Finally a new chapter! **

**Updates will be coming weekly or bi-weekly from now on. I have family home at the moment and I really want to spend time with them!**

**A huge thanks to MarLuna for the uplifting review! Really motivated me to write again! Sorry though, your guess of a Zangoose wasn't right! But thanks for the cookie! Arigato!**


	17. Double Trouble Part I

So let's recap. Two weeks training and I had already been shocked more times than I cared to count, almost been blown up in an explosion, been attacked by wild Spearows and Rattatas, almost drowned and then to add the icing on the cake; had been attacked by a wild beast. And as if that wasn't bad enough, I had _caught _and even nicknamed the creature that had attacked us. I had even accepted it into my team…

As it turned out, my predictions about the Persian's behaviour turned out to be right on the money. He seemed to have something known as "selective deafness", meaning that he only heard what he wanted to hear, my orders and instructions being one of the things he conveniently chose to ignore. Of course, when I inevitably tried to exercise my authority over him, he responded the only way he knew how. Using those pointed teeth and sharpened claws he was all too fond of.

When hunger eventually got the better of us, we decided to go downstairs for lunch. Of course, that also met with its challenges. I didn't trust Monty to go downstairs with us, and my only option was to return him to a Pokeball. Let me tell you, it had taken some struggle to return Monty to his Pokeball, and I ended up with bites and scratches all the way up and down my arms…

When I got downstairs, my arms dripping with beads of blood, I was immediately caught by a Nurse Joy and her Chansey. Nurse Joy made a big fuss over my bitten and bloody arms. Too much fuss, actually. It was almost embarrassing when she insisted on bandaging my arms up for me, making far more noise than I thought a pretty little pink thing like her could make. I think she especially fretted over me considering a lot of people had seen my face on the news when Meloi blew half the Cerulean Gym up. I even noticed a lot of rookie trainers whispering to each other and watching me warily as if I'd spontaneously combust or something.

Leaving Monty in his ball, and making a mental note to pick up some food for him later, I let Meloi and Aurora out of their Pokeballs. They ate greedily and noisily whilst I, faced with a mammoth plate of food, could only pick at it, my hunger suddenly gone. My immediate thoughts were revolving around how I was going to train Monty to listen to me, but there was a bitter undertone ever-present there too…

The day after tomorrow we would be en route to Slateport city in Hoenn. I couldn't even imagine what was waiting for me there. _If _anything was waiting for me there. It probably sounds stupid, I know, but my biggest fear at this point wasn't that there would be something horrible and chaotic that threatened _everything_ awaiting me in Hoenn. My biggest fear was that this was all going to turn out to be some big wild goose chase and I had gone and caused myself all this strife and trouble, just to see it was all for nothing.

Even after all these experiences I've had with my Pokemon, I can still honestly say that this is still not the right path for me. Yes, I've had fun times with them, and they are good companions, but this isn't the life I want. All this endless travelling, battling, training, catching Pokemon…it's hard. I was only doing this because I _had _to. It wasn't looking likely at this point that I would continue being a trainer. Yeah, I had good friends now, especially Jasmine and Elliot, but I missed being at home. I especially missed my mum. I had barely spent a day apart from her in the past few years. I hated to admit it, and I mentally scolded myself over and over again for being such a wimp and a baby, but… this whole journey was really getting me down…

"Hey!" Jasmine said loudly, cutting into my thoughts. "Where did you go?"

"Hmm?" I murmured as I came back into reality. "Oh…sorry. I was just thinking…"

"About what?"

It was then I realised that I'd never really told Jasmine about my reluctance to be a trainer. All I'd ever told her about was_ how_ I got to be a Pokemon Trainer.

"Just…just about how I never wanted to be a trainer…"

She frowned. "What do you mean?"

So, I ended up telling her the whole sorry truth. She took it much better than I had expected. Jasmine had high morals, and I was expecting a lecture along the lines of "but you're just using your Pokemon as tools!" however I didn't get that. No, she seemed to think I was brave. Brave enough to undertake such a mammoth task that I never wanted anything to do with in the first place, and all to save my mum. I waved off her praise. I didn't need it. I didn't want it. I didn't even _deserve _it.

Still feeling slightly bitter and depressed after lunch, Jasmine decided that we should do a bit of exploring in Vermillion City. We had only ever investigated the route we had arrived in after emerging from the underground path, and since we weren't particularly keen to go back there, she dragged me forcibly through the city, telling me we were going battling at Route 11.

Up until now, I had been under the impression, considering what I'd read, seen on television and researched for myself on the computer, that Pokemon were supposed to be sensitive to their trainer's feelings. So I wondered, considering I was so down on myself, that Meloi and Aurora currently at my heels as I walked, were totally oblivious to this fact.

Then I realised how stupid I was being and if it were not for the fact we were in a public place, I'd have slapped myself. "_Get a _hold _of yourself, Sienna! What way is this to be thinking? All depressed and sad? Grow up! What's the point in worrying about stuff you can't control? If mum said there's going to be an incident in Hoenn, there's gonna be an incident in Hoenn_! _Just pull yourself together and stop acting like a kid! It'll all work out!_"

Now determined to banish those thoughts from my mind, I threw myself into battling the rookie trainers at Route 11. Despite my initial reluctance, it turned out to be pretty fun! Even better, I only had to rely on Meloi and Aurora for battling, so I didn't have to use my new addition Monty once! And the icing on the cake was that Aurora learned a new move! Halfway through her battle when she was beginning to struggle against her opponent, she all of a sudden opened her mouth and fired a ball of ice at her rapidly approaching foe that was going for the finishing blow! She then countered with four more blasts of ice, each one getting bigger and doing more damage with each successful hit!

I learned after consulting the Pokedex that the attack was called Ice Blast and that Aurora had reached level thirteen. Out of curiosity I consulted the Pokedex on Meloi. She was a cool level eighteen. I was pleased with how my team was shaping out. With Monty being at level sixteen, I had a well levelled team.

"I'm so proud of Aurora!" I grinned, later on as the afternoon was drawing to a close. Jasmine, myself, Meloi, Aurora, and Skittle were relaxing in a small clearing after a few hours of battling. "She learned a new move, you know?"

"I heard you the first ten times…" Jasmine said, sounding like she was about to fall asleep. "You know, for someone who claims they don't really want to be a trainer, you do get pretty caught up in the whole thing…"

I laughed humourlessly. "I guess I do…" I groaned as Aurora suddenly launched herself onto my stomach, her weight knocking the wind out of me.

I thought about it a bit longer. Jasmine was right. I can't blame her for being confused. There are times even _I'm _confused. Yeah, Pokemon training's not for me. Definitely not for me. However, that doesn't mean I don't enjoy the company of my Pokemon and are proud of them when they achieve something worthy of praise.

"So…wanna head back to the Pokemon centre?" Jasmine asked, lazily stretching her long legs. "It's getting late now…"

"If you want," I shrugged.

"All right, let's go!" she said eagerly.

But she stayed right where she was. I looked at her, confused.

"Uhh, Jasmine? Why aren't you moving?"

"I've lost all my motivation…" she sighed, slumping down further until she was lying down, showing no signs of getting up.

"Me too…" I admitted, also falling down onto my back.

The sky was slowly beginning to get dark, the first inklings of stars starting to twinkle way off in the distance. Aurora was still lying on my stomach, making it oddly difficult to breathe, but I wasn't overly bothered. I closed my eyes, hearing nothing but rhythmic breathing from her and Jasmine. It was comforting. Meloi was snuffling around me, wondering why I had suddenly become silent, but she didn't shock me to get my attention, which was a welcome bonus.

I was just starting to enjoy the silence and the peace, when a loud, irritating voice was suddenly bellowing right in our direction.

"Hey, you! You're trainers right?"

"The hell?" I murmured at the noise.

"How'd you guess?" I heard Jasmine's sarcastic retort, and I unwillingly sat up, turfing Aurora off me as I did so.

I was rather surprised when I saw not one, but _two _trainers standing only a little way in front of us. One was a short boy that didn't look anything older than eleven or twelve, and the other was an older girl, looking very much like she didn't want to be with him.

"M…maybe we shouldn't do this…" she murmured in a timid voice. "Th…they look tough. Are you sure we can beat them?"

"Relax!" the boy said as if he didn't have a care in the world. "You and me against them? We'll take them out easily!"

"Excuse me for interrupting," Jasmine got to her feet. "But no-one here said anything about battling."

"Oh, well, in that case, we challenge you!" the younger boy said proudly. "We're official trainers, our eyes met, therefore we challenge you two to a double battle!"

"I have a basic question," I raised my hand, eager to move this whole thing along, but still somewhat confused. "What's a double battle?"

The boy eyed me. "You serious? You don't know what a double battle is?"

"I don't. Sue me." I said dryly, getting to my feet too.

"It's a battle where two trainers battle two other trainers!" the boy grinned.

"Sounds thrilling…" I commented flatly. I didn't like the sound of this double battling.

"It's basically two trainers teaming up against another two trainers," Jasmine explained for my benefit, considering the boy's explanation was…lacking. "Each trainer sends out one Pokemon and they battle side by side against the opponents."

I looked at her. "But…wouldn't that be really difficult? What happens if the Pokemon get confused from too many commands? Or the two fighting on the same side…I don't know…get in each other's way or something?"

Jasmine sighed. "That's the thing with double battles. They're a whole other ballgame and a whole different set of skills."

"Have you ever done a double battle before?" I asked her warily.

"Once," she said cautiously. I didn't like what that implied.

The boy and girl came closer to us. The boy started investigating our released Pokemon with heightened interest, but backed off quickly when Meloi started generating blue sparks to warn him off. He cleared his throat loudly, trying to pass off that he wasn't bothered.

The girl watched him nervously, then turned to face Jasmine and me. She held her hand out politely. "M…my name's Nikki," she said, shaking each of our hands in turn. "And that's my little brother Scott…" she looked at us apologetically. "I'm sorry for the trouble he's causing."

"It's no…trouble…" Jasmine said warily. "Um…but why challenge us so suddenly?"

"It…it was Scott's idea…" Nikki said nervously.

"Of course it was!" he interjected. "You need to toughen up your Pokemon, sis!"

"But…" she protested weakly before he interrupted again.

"Right! So each trainer uses two Pokemon!" he declared. "The team who loses all their Pokemon first loses, obviously!"

Jasmine sighed. "Fine. Let's just get this over with."

With that, Scott grabbed his sister Nikki and dragged her across the clearing, forming a nice sized battlefield for this double battle.

"I'm really glad we left all our money at the Pokemon Centre…" Jasmine remarked to me.

"Yeah," I agreed. "Good thing we didn't get that much money battling out here, either."

"Are you ready to begin?" Scott had grabbed another trainer idly who was walking by and minding his own business and cajoled him into refereeing the match.

"As we'll ever be," Jasmine and I said, eerily in tune.

"I'll get this party started then!" Scott struck an over-dramatic pose whilst I cringed at his antics. "Cubone! I choose you!"

"_Ugh, he's even got that cliché "I choose you" drabble!_" I thought to myself as the Pokeball exploded in the battlefield, revealing a strange Pokemon that I had never seen before. It wore a skull on its head, showing only its eyes. And those eyes were the loneliest eyes I had ever seen.

"Ground type," Jasmine hissed to me. "Meloi's at a disadvantage."

"Thanks," I hissed back.

Nikki then released a Pokemon she called Dixie into battle. It turned out to be a Pokemon that looked like a tiny red fox. Even I knew that she had chosen a Vulpix, a fire Pokemon. I grinned. Against a fire type and a ground type, Aurora was definitely at an advantage so long as I kept her using her water moves.

"Let's go, Aurora!" I told her, whilst Jasmine ordered Skittle into battle. Whilst Skittle obeyed his trainer and bounded into battle happily, Aurora looked at me once then began rolling around on the grass. I ended up having to push her into battle, red faced, whilst Scott roared with laughter.

"I'll start then," Scott grinned. "Cubone! Use Headbutt on that Spheal!"

Nikki jumped, suddenly realising the battle had started. She wrung her hands together, looking horribly nervous. "Di…Dixie! Use ember on the Skitty!"

I had to focus my attention on what was happening with Aurora and ignore Jasmine's half of the battle. I knew that was probably a bad strategy, the purpose of double battles _seemed _to be to work together, but I just couldn't hold my attention in two places at once!

The Cubone came racing towards Aurora, holding its bone firmly behind its back. I tensed. "Aurora! Dodge the attack!"

Just as the Cubone was about to make contact, Aurora rolled out the way of the attack. I grinned and Aurora clapped her fins happily as the ground Pokemon smashed into a tree instead.

"Counter with Water Pulse, now!"

"Spheal!" Aurora obeyed me at once and fired a torrent of pulsating water at the dazed Cubone.

I grinned. I was going to beat that Cubone with one attack!

"Cubone! Dodge that now!"

I could only gape in awe as the Cubone seemed to recover almost instantaneously and effortlessly dodged Aurora's attack.

"Cubone! Use Bonemeraang!"

"Cubone! Bone! Cubone!"

The Cubone at Scott's instruction hurled the bone it held like a boomerang towards Aurora. I gritted my teeth as the bone ricocheted off of Aurora's blubbery body. She squealed in pain, but she didn't seem to be too badly affected by the attack.

"Aurora!" I shouted to her. "Use Ice Blast!"

I didn't know how effective ice attacks were to ground Pokemon, but I had to give it a shot. Aurora opened her mouth and formed a small ball of ice and fired it at the Cubone. The ball of ice blasted straight into the Cubone, knocking it back slightly, but leaving it largely unaffected. I wasn't that concerned; I knew the beauty of the Ice Blast move was that it got stronger with each successive hit.

As it turned out though, Aurora wasn't _able _to land any more successive hits.

"Cubone! Use Headbutt again, quickly!"

"Cubone! Bone!"

Whilst Aurora was still forming the second ball of ice, the Cubone slammed its heavy head straight into her. Aurora was thrown back slightly, dazed, her Ice Blast attack now useless.

"Cubone! Use Bone Club to finish it!"

"Aurora!" I called in desperation. "Use Powder Snow, now!"

"Cu—Bone!"

"Spheaaaal!"

Cubone raised its bone and came tearing towards Aurora, aiming the bone high, obviously intending to hit Aurora with it. I tensed as Aurora opened her mouth and let loose a blast of chilly, frozen wind. The wind encased the Cubone, but it didn't stop it from slamming its bone into Aurora's side!

"Aurora!" I called out in fear.

I couldn't believe it when the chilly snowy wind cleared and I saw Cubone encased in the same type of thick ice that had enveloped Misty's Staryu in my Gym Battle not so long ago. I grinned. I had beaten Scott's first Pokemon!

It came at a price though. The impact from Cubone's club had still somehow managed to connect with Aurora and it was the final straw for the poor thing. She wavered uncertainly before letting out a low moan and falling to the side, knocked out.

"Both Spheal and Cubone are unable to battle!" the trainer refereeing the battle called out, as I recalled Aurora to her Pokeball.

I looked at Jasmine who was still locked in battle with Nikki and her Vulpix. However, just as I thought that, a well-timed tackle attack courtesy of Skittle sent Nikki's Vulpix flying. She was knocked unconscious.

"Vulpix is unable to battle." The referee said, holding his hand up. He suddenly turned to face Jasmine and I. "You currently have three Pokemon remaining." He then turned to Nikki and Scott. "You currently have two Pokemon remaining. First team to lose all remaining Pokemon loses."

"All right," Scott said, practically blazing. He reached for his Pokeball. "Let's go for this, Rhyhorn!"

I gaped in awe at the huge rhinoceros like Pokemon that burst from Scott's Pokeball. Nikki, who looked crestfallen at her defeat, recalled her Vulpix and sent out another Pokemon. Her Pokeball opened in a blast of white light and a small lizard Pokemon I knew to be Charmander appeared on the battlefield. She called this one Blaze.

"Jasmine…can you take care of the Rhyhorn?" I whispered to her. "I can't use Meloi against that thing. It's a Ground type, isn't it?"

"Yeah…" she hissed back. "Fine, I'll take care of the Rhyhorn. You take Nikki's Charmander, then."

"Gotcha,"

"Challenger must release a Pokemon now or forfeit!" the trainer refereeing said loudly, startling me.

"Okay, okay, hold on a moment!" I turned to face Meloi. "Meloi, can you—"

As I turned, I felt something fall from my waist. I panicked, helplessly flailing to catch what I realised to be a Pokeball. Those things were expensive; I couldn't afford to break one! I missed completely, obviously and I cursed to myself, momentarily thinking I'd have to dip into my ferry fund to buy a new one. The Pokeball hit the ground hard. I closed my eyes, waiting for it to shatter…

However, it opened in a flash of white light. I opened my eyes to see Monty stood in its place. The Pokeball returned to my limp hand. My mouth hung open in shock as the Persian swished his tail arrogantly, surveyed its surroundings and then locked eyes with the Rhyhorn.

"No, Monty…" I told him, waving my hands rapidly. "N…no! This isn't your battle! G…get back in your Pokeball now!"

He only flashed me a glare then bounded into the battlefield, his eyes locked firmly on the Rhyhorn's massive bulk.

"Is he…seriously gonna battle that Rhyhorn?" Jasmine hissed to me.

"I think so…" I said, wincing.

"_Well, this is interesting…He just bounds straight into battle like that…I just hope if he really does battle that he listens to me…Hah! Who am I kidding? There's a snowball's chance in hell of _that _happening…" _

* * *

**Author's Note**

**Next update should be coming either on Sunday or next week sometime. **

**I've finally managed to sort out all my plot issues for later chapters, and so now that I know what's going on, the plot is going to start advancing in Chapter...19, I think? Then there will be a bit more filler, then the plot will start up again. **

**I hope I haven't been giving too much filler and not enough plot. I'm so paranoid now...I don't want the fic to be boring, but I don't want to rush through the story either...**

**Aaaaargh! Confusion!**

**Thank you to Mystery Umbreon for the encouraging review! I love reviews! If you get a chance, please do review!**


	18. Double Trouble Part II

"All right, Rhyhorn, let's get this party started! You and your wussy Persian are going _down_!"

"Hah! We'll see about that!" I sounded confident, but inside I was screaming. Monty wasn't going to listen to me! He'd never listen to me! Even if he did, by some miracle actually listen to my instructions, it wouldn't do much good! I didn't know what moves he knew! I had skimmed over those details when I had looked him up in my Pokedex! The only moves I knew he had were the ones he always used on me; Bite and Scratch. Normal type moves. Normal type moves weren't effective against the Ground type. This would mean he wouldn't stand much of a chance against Scott's Rhyhorn…

This time, Nikki started off the battle. "Blaze! Use Ember, now!"

"Skittle! Get ready to dodge!"

I was so preoccupied with watching Nikki and Jasmine's battle, I barely even noticed Scott commanding his Rhyhorn to use Horn Attack! The Rhyhorn pawed the ground and took off at a charge towards Monty.

I bit my lip. It was now or never. If I didn't even _try _to get Monty to listen, to obey my commands and hopefully stop him from getting hurt, then I didn't deserve to have him as my Pokemon. I couldn't just stand by and let him get hurt. I had to do _something_.

"Monty! Jump up above that Rhyhorn!"

Monty turned to glare at me. My heart dropped. He wasn't going to listen to me…

I wanted to screw my eyes shut, but I found that I couldn't. I didn't want to watch if Monty was going to be hit straight in the gut by that Rhyhorn, but something compelled me to keep on watching. Then I saw something that made me doubt my own eyes and wonder if I really _did _need glasses…

With a perfectly timed spring, Monty leapt into the air with grace and agility, elegantly twisting his body over the Rhyhorn's massive body. Whilst Monty cleared the Rhyhorn's path effortlessly, I half expected the immediate danger to be over! However Rhyhorn couldn't stop in its tracks and I had to duck to the right to avoid getting speared by it! It smashed into the trees, destroying and knocking down a huge cluster of them. It roared in anger, trying to shake itself loose from the fallen branches and turn itself round.

The distraction of the Rhyhorn was costly for Jasmine. Whilst turning around to the direction of the huge, ugly noise of the ripping trees and, I would hope, to see if I was all right, Nikki's Charmander delivered a powerful Metal Claw into Skittle's body. Skittle took the blow hard and fell backwards, knocked out. Jasmine, acting and thinking far quicker than I could have expected of her, recalled Skittle and released Mizu, her Marill. At the same time, the Rhyhorn resumed its charge, heading straight for Monty.

"Monty! Get back! Get out of that Rhyhorn's way!"

Monty tiptoed back on his lithe little paws, moving with surprising speed, almost teasing the Rhyhorn as it charged. I couldn't watch. Monty was _toying _with this Rhyhorn, not even afraid of getting gored. I hadn't exactly grown attached to the Persian yet, but the thought of him getting hurt or even _killed _filled me with dread. I couldn't allow any Pokemon, mine or anyone else's to get hurt.

Whilst Mizu and Nikki's Charmander faced off, glaring at each other, Monty was still leading the Rhyhorn further and further into the battlefield away from the trees. I couldn't figure out for the life for me what he was trying to do.

Then I understood.

I watched as he was leading Rhyhorn into the fray, close to where Charmander was standing, still locked in a stand off with Mizu. _"He's trying to lead Rhyhorn to Charmander! He's trying to make the Rhyhorn hit the Charmander instead! Wow! That's actually pretty clever!"_

Monty leaped just at the right time, and the Rhyhorn went speeding under his long, feline body. I tensed. That Rhyhorn was speeding straight towards Nikki's Charmander! At that point, I heard Scott howl. He must have realised what was going to happen!

He bellowed something unintelligible across to his sister, gaining Nikki, Jasmine _and _the Charmander's attentions. Nikki squealed at the sight of the huge Pokemon rumbling towards them. That meant Charmander noticed the Rhyhorn at the last minute and squeaked, seeing the huge Pokemon come thundering towards it.

For a moment, none of us four trainers did anything as the Rhyhorn narrowly avoided slamming into the tiny lizard Pokemon's body. I groaned as Monty's plan turned out to be unfruitful, but at the same time, I guess I didn't really want to see that poor little lizard Pokemon squashed either.

"What are you doing?" Jasmine hissed to me while I stood gaping. "Here's our chance!"

"Wha…?"

"Mizu! Use Water Gun on that Rhyhorn now!"

Scott's Rhyhorn, dazed from hitting another nearby tree was almost knocked over again by the force of the water. Charmander squeaked and took off again, away from the water, but I wasn't about to let him get away.

"Monty! Use Bite on that Charmander!"

The command came automatically and I hadn't expected Monty to even _acknowledge _me, let alone listen, but he _did_.

Monty bounded towards the Charmander who was trying to escape, taking advantage of his long, strong limbs to catch up to him in no time. He sunk his viciously sharpened fangs into the Charmander's tiny body, making the little thing squeal and squeak pitifully. I closed my eyes and looked away. Hearing that poor thing's tiny cries made me want to just turn away. This was the aspect of Pokemon battling I hated the most. This was another reason I didn't want to be a trainer any longer than I had to. Hearing those cries and seeing those Pokemon suffer…I couldn't stand it…

Monty finished off the Charmander with a swift Scratch. The tiny lizard Pokemon collapsed on the ground, as did the Rhyhorn, taken out by Mizu's Water Gun. Nikki yelled out and ran to scoop the Charmander up in her arms, whereas Scott, the younger boy, attempted to pass it off like he wasn't bothered, but I could see unshed tears in his eyes.

Jasmine and I congratulated each other on a good battle, and I could see even she was a little perplexed that we had actually won. Mizu leapt into her arms, eager for praise, but Monty swished his tail back and forth nonchalantly as if to say "Yeah, I know I'm good."

"Monty was brilliant!" Jasmine grinned. "He's so strong!"

"I'm surprised he_ listened_ to me…" I admitted, scratching the back of my neck, completely and utterly perplexed.

Monty turned to me and hissed, showing all his sharp teeth. I backed off quickly, giggling nervously.

"Umm…Ex…excuse me?"

The Nikki girl was standing in front of us. Her Charmander was curled up in her arms. I instantly felt bad when I saw the sorry state the poor thing was in.

"Here," Jasmine suddenly rummaged in her bag and produced a small bottle of what I knew to be a healing Potion. She squeezed a few drops of the stuff into the Charmanders awaiting mouth, and it instantly became perkier.

"Thank you!" Nikki beamed as her Charmander grinned.

"It's okay," Jasmine replaced the potion in her bag, and then turned to face Nikki and her younger brother Scott who refused to look either of us in the eye. "That was a good battle."

"Not good enough," Scott mumbled. "We lost…"

"Scottie, we can't win them all…" Nikki pointed out kindly.

"Yeah, well it was your fault!" He retorted back. "Your Pokemon are so _weak_!"

Nikki looked horrified at her brother's suggestion. I immediately stepped in. That boy's attitude was beginning to seriously annoy me.

"There's no need for that!" I snapped. "Pokemon isn't all about being weak or strong! Besides, your sister did her best! You've got no right to put her and her Pokemon down like that!"

Scott retracted, obviously not impressed at being scolded. Nikki on the other hand looked a mixture of being shocked, and touched by my speech.

Jasmine cleared her throat loudly. "Listen, kids. This was fun and all, but Sienna and I need to be getting back to the Pokemon Centre. It's late. Come on, Sienna." I was yanked backwards as Jasmine grabbed my wrist and pulled me. It felt like she had dislocated it in the process and I winced in pain. That girl was too strong!

"Oh, umm… wait?" Nikki ventured. "Umm…we're staying there too. Can we walk with you?"

Jasmine stopped and sighed, dropping my crushed wrist. "…yeah. Sure. Whatever."

Although Jasmine wasn't exactly that thrilled at the new company, I found it quite refreshing talking to Nikki. I discovered her real name was Nicolle Harper, and she and her brother Scott had been travelling from their hometown of Fuchsia City. She and her brother were also Hoenn-bound on the same ferry as us the day after tomorrow. I saw Jasmine get visibly annoyed when Nikki told us this.

So our odd little party continued on to the Pokemon Centre, Jasmine stalking ahead in front, Mizu trotting beside her, followed by Meloi ambling at her own pace, then myself and Nikki deep in conversation, Monty padding along behind us, his tail swishing, and then finally Scott angrily bringing up the rear. We made it to the Pokemon Centre, just in time for dinner. We quickly healed our Pokemon and then proceeded to eat in the huge dining room. I rewarded Monty with an extra heaped portion, but he wasn't overly impressed with the food's quality and licked it up with disdain.

"Persians are very fussy…" Jasmine needlessly pointed out, huffily poking at her food with the same attitude Monty was demonstrating. "Have fun trying to find food he'll eat…"

I sighed deeply. Well, at least Aurora and Meloi were eating without any complaints. Nikki was feeding her newly healed Blaze (the Charmander) and Dixie (the Vulpix) small pellets of Pokemon food, and Scott was sitting by himself still in strop about his earlier loss. His Rhyhorn was swallowing food down like there was no tomorrow, but his Cubone was sitting with its back to us, completely apart from everyone in a different corner of the room. I didn't even know if it was eating anything or not

Over dinner, I managed to find out that Nikki and Scott were destined for Hoenn to stay with relatives in a place called Lilycove City. Nikki, who obviously wasn't that eager to be a battler wanted to take part in contests held in areas in Hoenn. She eagerly described how the contests weren't all about battling, more about how Pokemon displayed their abilities in the most impressive looking way or something. It was the most animated I had seen Nikki since we met her, and I listened out of politeness, but privately thought it was a little pretentious sounding to judge everything by the way it _looked_. From how she described it, I couldn't help but get an image of those stupid show-offy American beauty pageants…

Eventually, as night began to close in, we decided to go to bed. We left Nikki and Scott at another double room down the hall from us, and left for our own room. Monty looked unimpressed again at our room. He promptly leapt onto my bed and stretched himself out, and hissed at me when I tried to tip him off. I did however manage to salvage a spare blanket and realised sadly that I would most likely be sleeping on the floor.

Lying on the floor with only a thin blanket to cover you and nothing to cushion your back from the hard concrete floor was not fun, as it turned out. Especially when Aurora and Meloi clambered on top of me, squashing the wind out of me (Aurora) and sending tiny electric shocks through my body (Meloi). I never thought I would miss the lumpy Pokemon Centre beds, but I really missed them now…

"Why aren't you lying on your bed?" I heard Jasmine's sleepy voice above me.

I weighed up the pros and cons of answering her. She was still in a bad mood, wasn't she? For whatever reason she was in that bad mood, I didn't really know the specifics of. I had a good inkling though it had something to do with Nikki and Scott.

I answered her anyway. "Monty took it. He's taking up _all _the space."

"Just push him off," she rolled over in her bed, the covers rustling.

"I can't. I don't wanna get eaten by him…" I whined.

I heard her sigh. "You're hopeless,"

In the darkness, I could just make out Jasmine sitting up. She shuffled over right against the wall, leaving a nice decent me-sized gap. She pulled the covers across the bed.

"Come on, get in. It's not fair you having to sleep on the floor like that,"

"Are you sure?" I asked warily. "I mean, you've already got half your Pokemon on your bed already."

Just as I said that, her Pokemon mumbled in their sleep. She had Skittle, Heather and Mizu curled up in various areas on the bed. How I would be able to squeeze into that tiny bed with her and her Pokemon was beyond me…

"Yes, it's fine. Get in," she assured me.

So after turfing Meloi and Aurora off of me, I got into bed with Jasmine. It was cramped and often uncomfortably warm, but companionable. We stayed awake for a while, talking. I wanted to ask her about why she was in such a bad mood, but something told me that it wasn't the right time to ask.

We eventually drifted off to sleep, but as I did, I was vaguely aware of a feeling of unease washing over me that I couldn't explain…

* * *

The next day passed with little incident. Jasmine, Nikki and I ended up sitting at the harbour most of the day. Well, they sat dangling their legs over the side, looking down at the water, whilst I kept a safe distance. My fear of water was beginning to intensify lately, especially after that scare in Cerulean Gym, and looking at any expanse of water deeper than a bathtub full made me feel sick and shaky. I was beginning to dread the ferry journey… Jasmine wasn't shy about inquiring how I was going to cope on a six hour ferry ride and quizzed me about it incessantly.

"I'll be okay as long as I don't have to _see _the water," I pointed out for what felt like the twentieth time, watching Aurora and Mizu playing and splashing in the water happily. "As long as I stay indoors and don't go outside on the deck, I should be fine."

Now, I _was _lying here, but she didn't have to know that. I knew fine that just _being _on the ferry would make me sick to my stomach, and it didn't have anything to do with travel sickness. I was grateful when at that point; Nikki suddenly started rummaging in her bag for something, tearing my attention away from Jasmine.

"What's up?" I asked her. "Gonna release your Pokemon into the water too?"

"Well, no…" she said, somewhat nervously. "My Pokemon are only Fire Types. They don't like water…I mean; I only have Blaze and Dixie…"

"So you don't have any other Pokemon?" Jasmine queried, frowning.

"No." she shook her head, but then a short smile appeared on her face as she grasped what she was looking for in her large bag. "But I do have this."

Both Jasmine and I gaped at her as she pulled out what looked like an oversized egg, coloured in a mishmash of orange and red swirls and blotches.

"What is that?" I asked, stupidly.

"It's an _egg_, Sienna, obviously." Jasmine said, sighing.

"Oh, right…" I said. "Meaning what?"

Jasmine looked at me. "Where exactly do you think Pokemon come from, Sienna? They don't drop out the sky, you know?"

"So…that's a Pokemon egg?"

"Umm, yeah…It's a Pokemon egg." Nikki explained softly. "My dad found it one time when he was investigating Cinnabar Island…"

That held no significance for me, but Jasmine seemed to understand where she was coming from. "So, it's probably a Fire type egg, then?"

"I think so," Nikki nodded.

"You really have got a thing for Fire type Pokemon, don't you?" Jasmine was frowning at this point, which I didn't understand.

Nikki smiled and blushed slightly. "Yeah…I really love Fire Pokemon."

I laughed with delight. "I never would have said a little shy thing like you loved those burn-everything-to-a-crisp Fire type Pokemon!"

Nikki blushed again, this time more fiercely.

"So, you don't know what Pokemon is in it, exactly?" Jasmine asked, still frowning.

"N…no…I'm afraid not I've just got to wait until it hatches." Nikki raised the egg and pressed her ear to its shiny shell.

"When will it hatch?" I asked, hoping to ask some manner of intelligent question.

"I don't know," she brought it down again and placed it carefully in her lap. "Dad said eggs only hatch if they travel with energetic trainers…He thought if I carried it with me whilst Scott and I travel to Lilycove it would have a better chance of hatching…"

"Hmm, sounds fun!" I said, grinning as I looked at that little egg, containing an unknown life, just waiting to be born. "I can't wait to see what Pokemon hatches from the egg!"

"I can't either…" Nikki said, looking down at her orange and red egg with a fond smile.

* * *

Whilst my relationship with Nikki was going from strength to strength, no-one seemed to be getting along with her brother Scott. He took every opportunity to ignore us and was downright rude whenever either me or Jasmine had a rare chance to speak to him. Added to that, Jasmine was being more and more anti-social whenever us three girls were alone together. I was beginning to get annoyed by her sudden refusal to get involved with conversations and I made a mental note to ask her about it.

Even worse, the sudden addition to the company meant that Meloi, Aurora and Monty seemed to think that they could start playing up again. Meloi was becoming more and more disobedient at meal times, when we were in the room, and especially when we were out in a group. Any attempts on my part to get her to behave were met with a vicious shock. Nikki was horrified, but thankfully Meloi didn't turn on her. Aurora although she wasn't disobeying me, was more playful and distracted than ever, and I had to keep a constant watch on her. I was especially worried as she couldn't quite seem to differentiate between the people in our current party and complete strangers. I didn't want some stranger taking her for themselves! As well as that, Monty still had his high and mighty attitude, refusing to co-operate with me. His attitude had taken a right downhill spiral after he won against Nikki's Charmander. He was probably feeling self important. Again…

I was at my wit's end, what with disobedient Pokemon, an antisocial friend, a rude little boy, trying to make friends with the shy Nikki and a strange mix of feelings of disbelief, reluctance, excitement and terror at leaving for Hoenn the following day. In fact, I was feeling so fed up with the whole situation, I recalled all my Pokemon, including Meloi to their Pokeballs and went to bed early. I barely even heard Nikki's concerned questioning or Jasmine's suggestion that I was just feeling tired and nervous about the ferry ride tomorrow.

I went straight to bed without even undressing and buried my face in my pillow. I felt like this was a situation that I _should _cry in, but I couldn't bring myself to. For a long time, I lay in bed, trying to sleep, but my mind chattered on about horrible "what-if" situations and I just couldn't drift off.

"_Come on, Sienna!" _the part of my brain that still clung to the remnants of my common sense told me fiercely. "_Everything will be fine! Your Pokemon are probably just annoyed at being stuck in the same place all the time, Jasmine will get over whatever's bothering her eventually, Scott's just a little idiot anyway; you shouldn't worry about him, and all this stupid stuff about Hoenn…Get over it! You'll be there tomorrow, and then you can start looking for Mum! You'll find her! Just stop worrying and have faith!_"

"I'll find her…" I mumbled into my pillow.

Even after that vigorous little pep talk I held with myself, I still couldn't sleep. However, only a little while later, I heard the door to the room open. I stiffened, but then realised it was only Jasmine coming in. I closed my eyes tighter and focused on keeping my breathing slow and steady.

"I know you're awake."

I squeaked, and then cursed myself for it. "H…how'd you know?"

"You weren't snoring," she pointed out.

"I don't snore!" I said indignantly, sitting straight up.

"Oh believe me girl, you do." She rummaged around in her bag for her pyjamas and started getting undressed. I turned around to allow her some modesty.

I waited a bit before speaking. "Jazz…"I ventured slowly. "Are you okay?"

"What do you mean am I okay!"

I couldn't see her face, but I could tell from the tone of her voice that something was up.

"You've kinda…been a little off since Nikki and Scott appeared," I said, tracing the patterns in the bedsheets. "Is something wrong?"

I heard her sit down on her bed. "I'm fine."

"You're not fine," I corrected her, turning around again. "What's up? Do you not like Nikki or something?"

"No, it's not that. Nikki's…nice." She said, somewhat lamely.

"So, what's the problem then?"

She hesitated before speaking. "Are…are Nikki and Scott gonna be with us _all _the time from now on?"

I had suspected this. "I don't know, Jasmine. I mean, aren't they travelling all the way to Lilycove city, wherever that is? They probably want to get going straight away; they won't want to hang around exploring with us."

"Maybe…" Jasmine murmured. She didn't sound convinced.

"Would it really be a bad thing though?" I ventured. "I mean, would it be that awful having some extra company? I know Scott's a bit of a pain, but Nikki's nice, like you said."

"Hmm…" she said noncommittally.

"Jazz? Are you jealous or something?"

"What? Of course not! Wh…why would I be jealous?"

"I don't know." I shrugged my shoulders. I was bending the truth slightly there, but she didn't have to know that. "But Jazz, honestly if you're feeling jealous, don't be. I'm not just gonna up and replace you for someone else. Honest I'm not."

"I didn't…I didn't think that."

"Well, just saying it in case ya were," I said, rolling over and butting my head into the pillow. "Night, Jasmine."

"Night…" she said hesitantly and then softly a few moments later. "Th…thanks."

"No bother," I mumbled, before I finally felt content and composed enough to fall asleep. Not even the thought of having to be trapped for six hours in the middle of a vast ocean the following day could spoil it for me.

Although, I was singing an entirely different tune when the morning came…

* * *

**Author's Note**

**Well, here's chapter 18! A day early too! I've actually got about four or five chapters kicking around on my laptop, but I'm trying to be really thorough with my editing and that.**

**From here on out, the plot should start to thicken and develop. It'll be subtle at first, but it should get interesting now!**

**To all my regular readers, I thank you again! **

**To my anonymous reviewer, thank you for the encouraging review! To Ampharoslover666, thank you so much for your two awesome reviews, they really made my day and I'm happy you liked it so much! And to mystery umbreon, I didn't think you were a "big fat meany" at all; I knew that Mareeps evolve at level 15, there's a whole other story behind Meloi not yet evolving, yet to be revealed! Also, TakashiRika, thank you very much for the review too! I feel spoiled, 6 reviews in one day!**

**Also! I need help! I'm struggling to think about what _type_ of Pokemon to give Sienna in later chapters. I can think of one or two candidates for every type, but I can't decide on what type she should have. Please help me out by voting on my new poll! Please keep in mind Sienna isn't at all fond of Grass or Bug types, and she already has a Water/Ice, Electric and Normal type. Thank you very much for the help!**

**Wow. This is a long author's note. Thank you if you got this far!**

**Please review! **


	19. Conflicting Emotions

We had to get up so early in the morning of the ferry ride that I was more like a hungover zombie than a fifteen year old girl. I was barely conscious when I trudged down the corridor to a bathroom with Jasmine bringing up the rear. I was so out of it that if it wasn't for Jasmine pointing it out, I would have ended up squeezing a blob of her facial cleanser on my toothbrush instead of toothpaste. _That _would have been a nasty shock. Not even a cold shower could waken me up properly, and I was terrified that in my sleep deprived state, I would end up leaving something critical behind, like one of my Pokeball-bound Pokemon…Even worse, my stomach was slowly starting to squeeze and tighten at the thought of that ferry ride today…

Jasmine and I met up with Nikki and Scott at Hoenn Harbour, and they both seemed a little surprised at how tired and run-down I looked. I can't quite remember getting on the huge boat bound for Slateport. I think I may have conveniently blocked that out as soon as my eyes touched on the rippling water. All I remember was being pushed up the gangplank, and shoved into a warm, comforting lounge, then unceremoniously launched into a soft, squashy armchair.

"I don't get you," Jasmine flopped into another chair and sprawled her body out, showing no obvious signs of tiredness. "You probably slept longer than any of us, yet you're like the walking dead this morning…"

"I don't do mornings…" I mumbled.

"Hmph!" Scott said from nearby. "What a baby."

I managed a weak glare at Scott, but he didn't seem to take me seriously and sat back in the chair, trying to look cool. Nikki scolded him sharply, but he didn't even listen. For a moment, we all sat in silence. I could feel my head slowly nodding and my eyes gently closing as the silence wore on, until eventually my head was bowed over onto my lap, and Jasmine was prodding me hard in the side to wake me up.

"I think I'll go and get us some coffee," Nikki volunteered, then disappeared down to the little café area.

Whilst Nikki was away, I felt the ship blow its massive horn and pull away from the harbour. That was us officially on our way to Hoenn. I was tense, expecting the boat to suddenly begin rocking and rolling around on rough waves, but the sailing was smooth, like we were barely even moving. That was a relief, but a glance outside the window at the deep water sent a shudder down my body.

I was glad when Nikki brought back steaming mugs of coffee for us. I inhaled the sweet nutty scent and eagerly gulped down the boiling liquid as soon as I could. After getting the energizing caffeine through my veins, I was properly awake and we decided to explore the ship a little. The ship was packed with families and trainers, and they even had a designated battle zone for bored trainers. Jasmine was eager to battle, and roped me into a few friendly bouts to pass the time. We ended up winning a lot of them and it did pass the time quite nicely and stopped me from thinking too much about the fact we were in the middle of a huge ocean. After we exhausted ourselves in the battle arena, Scott included, he and Jasmine left to find us a table to get some lunch, leaving me and Nikki alone. This was a perfect opportunity to quiz her.

"So, Nikki…" I ventured slowly. "What are your plans? You know, when you reach Hoenn?"

Nikki stroked her red and orange egg uncertainly. "I'm going to Lilycove to stay with relatives, remember? I…I told you, didn't I?"

"Yeah, you did. But you never said if you're going direct or…if you're gonna take a more…scenic route. You know, a detour or something?"

Nikki hugged her egg to her chest and looked down. "Is…is this about Jasmine?"

I frowned at her. "What?"

"She…she doesn't really want me around that much, does she?"

"Emm…" I flustered, trying to think of how to reply to such blunt question. "Th…that's not it, exactly! It's not that she doesn't want you around, it's like—"

"It's okay," she stopped me in my tracks. "I mean, it would have been nice…to…to travel with you and Jasmine up to Lilycove. But you're not even going to Lilycove, are you? You…you haven't even told me why you're even _going _to Hoenn."

"It…it's a long story," I admitted. "I don't even know where I'm going in Hoenn."

She looked at me oddly. "Then why are you going?"

I shrugged. "I'm waiting for something to happen there, I guess. Oh, speaking of which…"

The news had just appeared on the television hanging on the wall in the lounge. I shuffled closer along the couches to get a better look.

"_Welcome to the afternoon news with Allison Harlow—"_

_"And Kieran Beckett."_

"_Today's top story—"_

I tensed as I always did when they were getting ready to announce the day's top story. Just as the first newscast was about to begin, Scott and Jasmine came back, grumbling loudly about the lack of seats in the dining area. I shushed them frantically, trying to listen.

"_Today marks the official beginning of this year's Kanto League. Trainers who have qualified for this exciting challenge have been flocking in hoards for their chance at coming out on top. We have heard reports of record numbers of trainers qualifying for this year's event, all hoping to get a chance at beating the Elite Four. First however, trainers are required to fight their way through the infamous Victory Road to even have a _chance _at fighting against the Elite Four. Our correspondent, Samantha Collins is outside the League gates there with this live report."_

The screen changed to show a petite blonde woman standing in front of a huge mountain range. Trainers were steadily clambering out of a narrow opening in one of the mountains, looking exhausted and worn down.

"_Yes, all Pokemon trainers wanting to take on the Elite Four must prove their worth and strength against the harsh trials of Victory Road. Even collecting all the Gym Badges is not enough, and Victory Road serves to weed out the "men from the boys", as it were. As you can see, we have a steady outpour of victorious trainers here, all looking rightly exhausted. I wonder if I can catch one of them—ah, yes! You three, there! May I have a word with you all?"_

Three trainers looked perplexed as the camera's vision was suddenly turned on them. My heart stopped as I saw one of them. Messy brown hair, ripped, mud and grass stained black and green clothes, scratches all over his face, his glasses smeared with dust and an Umbreon at his heels. My mouth dropped. No way! That was—

"Elliot?"

The woman on television was talking again. "_You're live with the Hoenn Regional News! So, you have just emerged from Victory Road, as our viewers can see. How was it for you?_"

I watched in complete awe as Elliot began uncertainly speaking into the microphone, the two other trainers looking on in annoyance that Elliot had been prompted to speak and not them. "_We…well, it was rough, as you probably can guess. We're all looking a little worse for wear…"_

"_Yes, yes, of course. It must have been awfully difficult. I think congratulations are in order! What are your plans now that you have made it through?_"

"_We're gonna take on the Elite Four of course!" _the male trainer to Elliot's rightcut in just as he was about to speak again. _"We didn't come all the way here to just turn around and go back home!_"

"_Oh, I see…"_ the lady on television seemed a little taken aback. "_And do you think you can win against them_?"

"_In truth, I don't know." _Elliot was speaking again. "_The Elite Four are so tough…I don't actually know if I can—"_

Suddenly the female trainer on Elliot's left interjected. She looked immaculate, like she'd just been for a stroll in the park instead of hiking her way through something as difficult and challenging as Victory Road. My hands tightened into fists at the sight of her, and I wasn't quite sure why…

"_Win? Of course we can win! We wouldn't come all the way here if we thought we couldn't win!"_

"_Such confidence at such a young age_!" the woman said, but it was clear she wasn't that impressed. She turned to the camera again, the view shifting from Elliot and the other trainers. I strained trying to see him again, but he had disappeared from sight to my disappointment. "_Well, there you have it. We will of course be bringing you all the information you could possibly want on this exciting event as well as regular updates on successful challengers. We wish all challengers success and good luck. This is Samantha Collins reporting, outside Victory Road, Kanto. Back to you in the studio._"

"_Thank you Samantha for that inspiring report. Now, also on today's news—"_

As the newsreaders started gabbling on about whatever was on the next broadcast, I felt a deep blush redden my cheeks as I thought about Elliot. I had been thinking about him on and off since I left him in Cerulean City, and now to see him again on the television was just…weird. I couldn't describe it in any other way. I felt strangely proud of him…for beating the last Gym Leader like he'd vowed to, and humbled that I was friends with someone working their way up into elite classes. But more than anything…I felt a little tingle of excitement every time I thought of his name or his face…Thoughts of him just made me…happy.

"Wow!" Scott's cheer shocked me straight out of my thoughts and back into the present. "That's so gonna be me in a few years! Hah! I bet I could beat half of them even _now_! They don't look like much!"

"Those trainers who challenge the Elite Four are so snobby!" Jasmine declared loudly from across the room.

"That one guy with the brown hair and all the black and green clothes seemed nice…" Nikki offered shyly.

"He is." I said without thinking.

Jasmine, Nikki and Scott all turned to me. "You know him?" Scott gasped.

"Yeah…." I blushed again. "That's Elliot."

"Oh!" Jasmine snapped her fingers. "That guy you were talking about! The one you met in Cerulean? The one with the Dragonite? _He _was Elliot?"

"Yep…" I said shyly.

"Wow…you _know_ him?" Even Nikki seemed impressed, and Scott was stunned into silence, looking totally disbelieving that I knew him.

I beamed with pride then. If Elliot won, and I was almost certain that he _could_…I could say that I knew the Champion! I was close personal friends with him! How amazing would that be? Amazing…to be friends with the Champion! But…some part of me drifted past that happy thought and touched, just briefly, on what it would be like…to be _more _than just friends with Elliot.

Shocked at myself for that sudden thought, I was immensely glad with Jasmine cut in. I had hoped she would have said something to keep my mind _off _my confusing and conflicting feelings for Elliot, but no such luck…

"Boy…" Jasmine grinned. "He was so cute! You should've gone after him, girl!"

"NO!" I screamed, perhaps louder than I had expected. Guilt, probably. A lot of heads turned to look at me at my outburst but I gabbled on nonetheless. "It…it's not like that! I mean…we're just friends!" I found it difficult to say that without feeling some pang of…jealousy? Wistfulness? Lust? Oh, God, don't let it be lust… "We're just friends! I swear! That's all there is to—"

"_We interrupt the report to bring you some breaking news just in from Hoenn._"

My heart gave a sudden twist and dropped into my stomach as the current report was stopped, and we suddenly saw the two newscasters frantically searching their notes and consulting their laptops.

"_We…we are getting unofficial reports from Mt. Chimney in the Hoenn region about a possible situation unfolding there…I wonder, do we have any contact with—"_

I looked at Jasmine. She swallowed, and I quickly turned my attention back to the television again. A tanned woman was standing in front of what looked like a town way out of nowhere, ash spitting down on her. She looked rushed and flustered, reading off a scrap of paper.

"_We are receiving unofficial reports that there has been what is described as a minor eruption taking place at Mt Chimney."_

"It's erupting?" Nikki whispered, hugging her egg close to her as collective gasps issued from the lounge.

"_We have no explanation as to what has caused an eruption from what is thought to have been a largely inactive volcano as of yet. Eye-witnesses describe hearing a loud "booming sound" like an "explosion" before the ash began falling even heavier than normal. We are told that while there is no immediate danger to nearby residents of Lavaridge Town, people are being told to exercise extreme caution in and around the surrounding area. We cannot stress enough that this is a _minor _eruption and the damage and danger should be minimal. We will of course bring you more information as it comes in. For now though, back to you in the studio."_

We were suddenly back in the studio. _"Now, here's the weather with—"_

"I can't believe this," Nikki whispered. "It's erupting….How horrible…I hope the people who live there won't be in any danger…"

"Relax, it's only minor," Scott said firmly. "No-one will get hurt,"

Jasmine looked at me knowingly. "So," she leant across to me, keeping her voice low. "Reckon that there's your incident in Hoenn?"

"I don't know," I replied truthfully, but my heart was thudding painfully against my ribcage as I spoke. "But…it wouldn't hurt to go and check, would it? I mean, if something is going on there…I'd like to see if my mum and my dad are caught in it somehow…"

"You can't go there!" Nikki said, horrified at the thought. "It could be dangerous!"

"I have to," I said firmly.

"Why?" she pressed.

"Cos…" I flailed, desperately. "Cos my mum could be there!"

"Why would your mum be at a volcano?" Scott asked.

"Because she disappeared," Jasmine said for me. "Her mum up and left her, saying she was chasing after some incident in Hoenn. Something to do with her dad."

I wished she hadn't phrased it so bluntly, but I was happy that I didn't have to do the explaining again. Whilst Nikki and Scott exclaimed and exchanged words with Jasmine about the finer details of my sorry situation, I pressed one of my Pokeballs hard into my hand, until it forced a painful groove into my palm.

"_Finally…here's a chance…a possibility…at finding mum…I've gotta take it. I've got to find someway to get to this Mt. Chimney and see if she's there…This is the closest I've got…"_

"But how can you be so sure that stupid eruption has anything to do with your mum?" Scott suddenly cut through my thoughts. "How on earth could anyone predict some kind of freak natural disaster? Especially weeks before it happens? It's a bit of a stretch, isn't it?"

"I don't know." I said wearily.

I had thought about that. What were the odds Mum knew about some sudden natural disaster weeks before it happened? I couldn't even be sure she had anything to do with it…The two situations seemed so separate…how could they be connected? But it was the closest thing I'd heard to an "incident in Hoenn" since I'd started all this. I had to try.

I let out a deep sigh. "I don't know if she has anything to do with it. But I gotta try, after all. It's my only chance."

The rest of the trip passed in an uneasy silence. Nikki and Jasmine attempted to steer my thoughts away from the erupting Mt Chimney and all the hopes I had pinned on it, by talking about Elliot. But for once I didn't want to talk about Elliot. Nikki tried distracting me by saying that wouldn't it be cool if Elliot won, and I would end up being a friend of the Champion? Jasmine tried a totally different track and wanted to know everything I knew about him, commentating easily on his effortless good looks and his good manners. At that point, I wanted to laugh and say that his politeness was probably just a put-on to look good. I mean, after all, he had been arrogant and somewhat snobby when I battled him the first time. But that had conflicted to when he was talking about the Elite Four…he had claimed he didn't stand a chance. With sadness, I realised that I didn't really know much about Elliot for who he _really _was. In the end, my only comment on Elliot was truthful, that he was an enigma. They eventually got the message and dropped the subject, even though I knew Jasmine was itching to decipher what my feelings really were towards him.

I soon started to tire of the travelling over water. Although the sailing had been smooth, barely noticeable we were even moving at first, we started to hit rougher waters about halfway through the journey. I hated the feel of the boat rolling over the waves as it slowly got choppier and choppier. I started feeling sick after being confined to such a small place, and I only got worse after catching a glimpse of the churning water when I looked out the window. This was my personal hell. It was like a floating prison.

When land finally started to show in the distant horizon, it was all I could do to stop myself clawing at the windows trying to get out. Fear of water or no fear of water, I would have probably suctioned myself to Aurora and either hitched a ride across, or just clung to her and paddled to shore myself rather than have to spend much longer on that floating hellhole.

Nikki and Jasmine claimed that all things considered, whatever _that _meant, we arrived in Slateport in good time, after a six hour journey. If that was their idea of a "good time" I hated to think what a "bad time" was…

So after that hellish six hour journey, we pulled into Hoenn harbour. The ferry cheerfully chugged into the harbour, the sun was shining down on the idyllic beaches, and we were in a whole new region full of new exciting people, Pokemon and cities…I should have been excited. Happy, even. I should have at least been eager to get going find Lavaridge Town and see if my mum was there. But I didn't feel any of those things. I felt empty. Distant. Like I didn't belong to this whole situation.

We hauled our heavy things down the gangplank and ended up standing dumbly on the pier for some time. Nikki and Jasmine were enthralled in the new surroundings, and if I'm honest, I'll admit it _was_ a pretty impressive city. The beaches were beautiful, the city itself was bustling with activity; people were roving around in hoards, in and out of a marketplace to the immediate left of the harbour and coming in and out of a strange red and blue tent to the top of the city. For a while, the four of us stood dumbly at the harbour, not sure of what to do or where to go. Jasmine eventually decided for us that that we would rest at the Pokemon Centre tonight, gather our bearings and begin our travels the following day. So under her strict instruction, we got together our things and headed off to get a room for the night.

We found our way to the Pokemon Centre eventually. To our dismay, it was almost fully booked, but we managed to wangle a room for us three girls and poor Scott was shoved in a room with another couple of boys.

We set our bags down in the room. It was a different room than normal, consisting of one single bed and a bunk bed. Nikki claimed the single bed for herself immediately. Her first priority was to take careful care of her egg, nestling it in a pile of blankets and clothes. She then perched delicately onto her bed, playing with Blaze the Charmander and Dixie the Vulpix's Pokeballs, but still keeping a watchful eye on her egg. Jasmine and I watched her for a moment then had a short argument over who would get the top bunk. I say "short" because I was almost immediately banished to the lower bunk after Jasmine made a rather nasty threat to have her Drowzee give me nightmares if I didn't hand over the bunk. Shuddering at the thought, Jasmine shimmied up the ladder before I had a chance to realise what she was doing and claimed her prize happily.

"So…what's the plan, then?" Jasmine asked from the top bunk.

"I don't know…" I admitted, still in mourning over my loss. "I'll get my map."

We spread the map out on the desk and began to study it. We realised that from Slateport, we had to go north along Route 110 until Mauville, then north again till about halfway up Route 111, then make a west turn to reach Lavaridge Town.

"Wh…where's Lilycove City?" Nikki asked shyly, trying to look over my shoulder.

I pointed it out to her dimly. I had privately hoped that we would be able to travel with Nikki for longer, but as it turned out, when we reached Mauville, she and Scott would have to go east instead. She didn't particularly want to scale Mt Pyre, which I totally understood, but boycotting that meant a trip that took twice as long. She would have to detour along several routes along the east, then travel north across some more routes, travel through a place called Fortree City and then another couple of routes before _finally _reaching her destination.

"I…I guess then we'll be parting in Mauville then…"

"Looks like it," I said sadly.

"That's…that's too bad…" Nikki tried to look cheerful, but she failed miserably.

Jasmine didn't say anything at this point. I swallowed hard at the sudden silence. Things were cropping up too fast now…seeing Elliot on the television aiming for the championships…a possible lead on this incident in Hoenn…the doubt on whether or not my mum was really involved…and now the realisation that I would soon be saying goodbye to Nikki and Scott. I had gotten quite adjusted to the four of us over the past couple of days. I mean, come on…I had enough trouble saying goodbye to Elliot…and I had only really seen him for a few hours, past history or no past history. How would I react to saying goodbye to Nikki…?

"Listen, um…" I desperately wanted to do something to clear the depressing air that had descended on the room. "Why…why don't we go and do something fun?"

"Like what?" Nikki and Jasmine questioned in unison.

I shrugged. "Well, this _is _Slateport. What about all those beautiful beaches we saw on our way in? Why don't we go down to the beach for a while?"

"Yeah!" Jasmine cried out so enthusiastically she almost launched herself off of the top bunk. "Let's do that!"

Even Nikki nodded in a rare gem of excitement.

"It's settled, then!" I grinned. "Grab your bikinis, girls! We're hittin' the beach!"

* * *

**Author's Note**

**As you should know, my university results are due in in TWO DAYS (Eeeeeep!) so no updates will be submitted until probably the end of the week. Sorry!**

**A lot happens in this chapter, I know, so sorry if it's a little long or a bit talky. I have no one to blame but myself. **

**Thanks to all those who have voted thus far on the poll! **

**Anonymous: thank you for your opinion! I am thinking Sienna and a Fire Type would be a good combination! AmpharosLover666: you are freakin' awesome! Your enthuisasm and compliments and dedication to reviews are so appreciated! Reviewers like you make writing this whole fic worthwhile! Randomnlyrite, I like your sense of humour! :)**

**Anyway, please read and reivew if you can! **


	20. The Calm Before the Storm

We ended up staying on Slateport beach for a _lot _longer than we had anticipated. I think it was about ten at night that we eventually dragged our weary bodies from the golden sands and headed back to the Pokemon Centre.

Of course, the day didn't go without its mishaps. I mean, come on, this is me we're talking about here. First off, when we started digging through all our bags for swimming gear, I discovered that I had forgotten to bring any. Cursing, I ended up having to ask Nikki and Jasmine if they had a spare. Jasmine seemed to have an entire department store packed away in her bag and offered me plenty of swimwear. Of course, most of them were brightly coloured bikinis, skimpy on the bottom and way too big on the top. I eyed these things, terrified. I wasn't a girly girl and I didn't have the right kind of figure…I was short and built like a boy; flat-chested with practically no curves. I ended up borrowing a modest dark purple tankini set from Nikki who, to my surprise, hid a well developed figure under her usual baggy hoodies and jeans

Jasmine's choice of attire, a tiny skimpy pink and purple striped bikini earned us a few gawks and wolf whistles as the three of us made our way down to the beach. Nikki who hid most of herself under a long light blue patterned swimdress blushed fiercely and pulled a giant beach ball in front of herself to cover herself further.

Unsurprisingly, I chose not to wade into the water and Nikki happily stayed with me at the beach to keep me company. Jasmine on the other hand swam right out into the ocean. That is, until she managed to attract the attention of some local boys, who convinced her to come back to shore and she was fawned over like some kind of goddess for a few house. Nikki and I amused ourselves by playing beach volleyball with a few holidaymakers around our own age. We ended up meeting up again with Jasmine for a dinner at the nearby café, before we spent the evening lying in the sun, talking companionably and drifting in and out of the water to keep cool, eating our body weight in ice creams. Even better, we earned ourselves a little keepsake each when we found a little photo booth in a beach rest house and spent about half an hour taking funny pictures. I knew I would especially treasure the one photo we managed to cajole Scott into taking with us. I had to fight for it, mind you, which made it all more worthwhile.

The whole day was fantastic. It was a welcome break for me from the stress and angst of Pokemon training, travelling and the worry over my mother's disappearance. For the first time since this whole thing began, I had forgotten about my worries and my fears and felt like a fifteen year old girl again, someone free from the constraints of Pokemon training and this whole "incident in Hoenn" business. I didn't have to worry about an indignant, shock-everything-in-sight Mareep, an easily distracted baby Spheal and a high class, disobedient Persian, and I _definitely _didn't have to worry about the burden of finding my mother and getting myself to Hoenn. No, today, I was Sienna Volbeda, fifteen years old, just a girl, having fun with her friends.

We gave in when the skies darkened and made our way to our shared room in the Pokemon Centre. Still giggling and hyper from the day's events, we stayed up well into the night, reminiscing. I didn't want it to end…Tomorrow we would leave for Mauville, which meant we would be leaving Scott and Nikki behind once we reached there. I didn't want Nikki to go…I'd gotten too used to having her around. Even she and Jasmine had become solid friends now…I don't think either of us wanted her to say goodbye.

The next morning, we woke early. It would be a long walk to Mauville, and considering none of us had a bike, we wouldn't be able to take the short route along Cycling Road. We'd have to travel underneath the giant path that snaked across the route as far as the eye could see. Jasmine reckoned it would be a long, gruelling journey that would take us at least a day, if not two or more to complete.

None of us said a word to each other as we woke up and dressed, ready for our journey. I pulled a pair of jeans on, having neglected them in favour of skirts the past few days, and clipped my Pokeballs to my belt, taking care to position Meloi, Aurora and Monty's right at the front, just in case. We ate breakfast in silence too. Scott seemed to pick up on our anxieties and started playing up to us, but after realising his audience wasn't even paying attention, quieted almost immediately.

Whilst Nikki and Scott disappeared to find food supplies for the long trip, and Jasmine took care of healing all Pokemon, I sat down in front of the news. I searched in vain for any updates on the volcanic eruption near Lavaridge, but I had to sit through almost half an hour of news on the Kanto League. I was hopeful of seeing Elliot, but there was no mention of him. They televised each and every challenger's attempt on some new television channel they created especially for this time of year. I hoped that I hadn't already missed Elliot's battle…I became even more worried when an update flashed up that as of yet, no trainer had even beaten the _first _member of the Elite Four so far. Had Elliot lost? Had he lost after barely even getting a _chance_? Had he gone through all those hardships, put in so much effort…just to lose?

I wished I knew how to contact Elliot. I didn't bring my mobile phone with me…I stupidly hadn't thought to when I left home. Besides, it wouldn't have done me any good anyway. I didn't know if Elliot had a mobile, and even if he did I didn't know his number. I wasn't even sure if I could phone someone in Kanto from Hoenn. There were probably restrictions on that kind of thing, or the signal wouldn't stretch or something like that. And I couldn't exactly phone up a Pokemon Centre a whole region away and ask for someone called Elliot. There could be a hundred Elliots there for all I knew. There might not even _be _a Pokemon Centre at the place the league was being held. I was hitting dead ends everywhere I looked.

Eventually the news cleared of the Kanto League and a short segment on the volcanic eruption came on. To my dismay, there was still next to nothing in the way of news concerning it. They said that the volcano was smoking slightly, spewing thicker ash than normal, but thankfully there were no danger signs of lava appearing at the mouth of the volcano. I breathed a sign of relief. At least no people were in danger. But at the same time…if nothing else was coming of this eruption…then maybe it was just some natural disaster after all. Meaning it might not have anything to do with my parents.

"Sienna?" Jasmine suddenly appeared next to me, dumping all the Pokeballs on the couch.

I quickly found mine and reattached them to my belt.

"What's the news on that eruption at Mt Chimney?" Jasmine asked, vaulting over the back of the couch to sit next to me.

"Not much, really." I sighed. "No lava or anything like that. It hasn't _done _much since those people reported hearing that booming sound."

"Hmm…" she contemplated this. "What about the Kanto League? How's that going?"

I looked at her. "I thought you weren't really that interested."

"I'm not," she said, idly crossing her legs, which was difficult for her, considering the tiny skirt she was wearing. "But I am interested to see how that friend of yours, Elliot, gets on. Think he's battled yet?"

I shrugged. "I don't know…I hope not…they're saying no-one's even gotten past the _first _member of the Elite Four."

"What's his last name?"

I blinked. "Excuse me?"

"His last name," she repeated. "They make the trainers battle in alphabetical order of their last names. Did you not know that?"

"Oh, that makes sense," I said, pointedly ignoring her dig at my lack of knowledge. "Elliot's surname is "Wood". He'll be one of the last to battle then."

"Yeah…" Jasmine nodded. She let out a long sigh. "It kinda sucks that we're probably gonna miss Elliot's battle…I would have loved to have seen how that guy battled and what Pokemon he has…Do you think he'll go far?"

"I hope so." I said, my head slowly turning to look out the window. My eyes were drawn to the pale blue, flawless sky. The weather was perfect for travelling. Beautiful, warm and calm with barely a hint of a wind, just like the forecast predicted. At the same time though, it felt too perfect. Too calm. Like the calm before the storm. Despite the warmth from the sun, and the comfortable heating inside, I felt a peculiar cold shiver and feeling of unease wash over my body. There was something about this whole thing I didn't like. A long, juddering sigh escaped from me and I turned back to look at Jasmine. "I hope so…"

"_Why _does every place we go to involve water?" I huffed, looking down at the expanses of water glittering down at the riverbeds as the four of us hiked our way across to find Cycling Road. Just looking at that endless blue expanse made me feel sick to my stomach, and I quickly traded places with Scott so I could walk on the inside of the road.

"I don't get it," Scott said, moving his backpack to a more comfortable position on his back and shooting me a glare. "Why you so afraid of water? There's nothing to be scared about! Don't be such a baby!"

"Scott!" Nikki scolded him sharply. "Don't be so mean to Sienna!"

"No, no, it's okay…" I managed a weak smile. "He's right. There really isn't much to be afraid about…"

I was lying there, though. Through my teeth. To most people, things like oceans and seas weren't an object of terror. To them, water was a beautiful thing, symbolising life and health, something that is cool and refreshing, necessary for everyday survival. For me, though, water held only bad memories. To me, water was dark and treacherous, too easily angered, too vengeful. How could men think they could tame the sea? How could they dare to sail the swelling waters and taunt them with their fishing boats and ferry cruisers…? Were they not just asking to be swept away to the ocean's wrath? I know… I know I'm maybe getting a little overdramatic here. But that's the way I feel. Nothing's going to change that…

I brought myself into the present again. I managed another slight smile and I tried to shake it off, like we were just having a casual conversation. My fears of water were hidden far deeper than I wanted them to know. Far deeper than even _I _wanted to think about. "I know…it's a bit of a stupid fear…I don't actually know why it all started…"

I broke off. My body suddenly became cold and clammy. In the distance, I could hear rushing water… Even though the lakes around here were unusually calm and flat, not even a ripple on the surface. I shook my head firmly, trying to snap myself out of it and carry on. "It…it all started when I was…when I was…"

Something hit me so hard I felt like I had got in the way of a stray shock from Meloi. My mouth felt paralysed. My whole body suddenly wouldn't move, like I was being crushed under the weight of an ocean. My words wouldn't come…but memories did…

Familiar words chimed through my head.

"_I don't like it daddy, I wanna get out! I'm scared!"_

"_Shut up! Kids are too wussy these days! You've gotta toughen up!_"

_My body submerged underwater. A dull roar in my ears. A strong hand on my head. Holding me down. _

"Sienna? Are you—?"

I vaguely heard Nikki's concerned voice from beside me, but I barely noticed. I felt dizzy, then my stomach gave a violent twist and I had to turn away into the bushes and vomit.

"Sienna?"

I half lay, half crouched on the ground, my throat raw, the horrible stinking stench of the vomit almost choking me again, my hands like claws around the tufts of grass. My stomach churned and twitched unpleasantly, groaning in protest every time I tried to move.

"Sienna!"

I felt hands on my back. I didn't know whose hands they were, but I recognised Nikki's voice, even through the fuzzy haze. "Are you okay?"

My eyes half opened and I shuddered involuntarily. I thought I was okay, but then I caught sight of the nearby water, shifting and churning, deep and dark and deadly…

I threw up again. And again. And then again. I threw up until I had no food left and all that came up was disgusting yellow bile, sour and bitter in my mouth. Even then when my body was completely and utterly empty, I retched and retched until my whole body screamed in pain. Eventually it stopped and exhausted and sweaty, I found myself being gently moved away from the water and to a clearing. I barely even registered what was going on until I was sat down…I didn't hear Nikki's repeated questioning or Jasmine's barked orders to give me some space and air…All I knew was those memories…

I guess to a point they were always there. I knew in my heart why I was always afraid of water. It…it wasn't something I liked to think about…This whole stupid journey was dredging up things I had long since blocked out…

"Here, drink this…" I felt a cup of water being pushed into my trembling hands and I downed it immediately, the cool, clear water soothing my burning, raw throat. It didn't do much to stop the mad rush of memories I hated to remember come flooding back, but at least it made me feel, physically, a little better.

"What was all that about?" Jasmine asked me.

"Mus...must have been something I ate…" I said shakily.

"No way," she said at once. "People don't take _that _kind of reaction to some bad food. What's the real reason?"

"That _is_ the real reason!" I tried to sound defiant, but my shaky voice and still trembling hands betrayed me. "I…I just ate something that was bad or something…"

A cool hand slipped into my free hand. Nikki. She squeezed it, trying to be comforting but I was long past the point that I could be comforted. "Jazz, can we drop it, please? I just had a bad reaction to something I ate. That's all. End of story."

I don't think they believed me. I knew I wasn't convincing anyone, but I wasn't about to tell them the real reason behind the whole thing. Ignoring the pain that still circled my body, I tried to psyche myself to get up and move. I didn't want to prolong our stay here, doing nothing with three pairs of eyes burning into me, scrutinising me. Not doing anything meant more time for questioning, which I definitely didn't want. I stayed there for as long as it took my shaky legs to finally become stable and the pain in my stomach to subside, before I forced myself to my feet to continue on.

* * *

**Author's Note**

**Before I say anything *drum roll please*...I GOT INTO UNIVERSITY! Yay! I got ABBB on my exams, so I'm into Uni! Yaaaaay!**

**Anyway, on with the story stuff. **

**Chapter 20, eh? That feels like it should be a milestone, but all I can think of is "Hmm...I guess I've written a lot, really..."**

**Yeah, this is a little bit...angsty, maybe? Emm...I don't have much to say, really. **

**Thanks again to all readers/reviwers. Anonymous: I have decided what is in the egg Nikki owns, and unfortunately, not a Vulpix. But thanks for getting into it! ****AmpharosLover666: Again, I'm so happy you enjoy the story! Elliot really is pretty modest, isn't he? Considering he was such an arrogant little punk at first. WinterDahlia: Thank you! Your fic is awesome too! Syzdoth: Don't worry about submitting the wrong review, it's all cool, things like that happen pretty easily. **

**Please read and review if you can!**


	21. Keep a Weather Eye on the Horizon

"Meloi! I _said_, enough with the electricity!"

"Mareep! Ma!"

"Oh for the love of….Stop showing off! We're already having enough problems without you making this harder!"

Travelling along Route 110 on the road underneath Cycling Road turned out to be a lot more hazardous than I thought. I knew it would be a long, tiring hike, but I didn't expect the place to be filled with trainers. Tough trainers. Trainers that couldn't be taken on with Pokemon like Mareep, Skitty and Charmander. Thankfully most of them were more interested in looking for the rare Pokemon found on the route. That was another thing that made this whole thing even more difficult. The whole route was overgrown with tall grass, forcing us to pick our way through very slowly in case we disturbed the local Pokemon. After one too many wild Pokemon attacks, we all ended up releasing our own Pokemon to attempt to scare off the wild ones. Our only problem was that with so many Pokemon, there were a lot of personality clashes….

"Heather! Stop hitting people with those vines!" Jasmine ordered after Heather turned and slapped me with one of her whip like vines against the back of my legs when I dared to lag behind.

"Bulba! Bulbasaur!" she snapped defiantly and gave me another whack for good measure.

As you've probably guessed, Jasmine's Bulbasaur was attempting to lead the group through the grass, chattering away and acting like a self-important tour guide. However, Meloi was less than impressed with Heather lording it over the group and attempted to put Heather in her place. What ensued from that was a vicious battle of bolts of blue electricity coupled with snake like vines and razor sharp leaves, until both Jasmine and I gave in and recalled the chief troublemakers Meloi and Heather to their Pokeballs.

We travelled as far as we could that first day, stopping quite frequently to rest and eat. Nikki and Scott had a four man tent folded down and packed away into one of their bags and we managed to pitch it in a clearing when the night was drawing in. It was just as well that we did…

Not long after the tent was pitched and the four of us had clambered inside, we began to hear raindrops hitting against the tent. None of us were really that bothered, and we just carried on talking and eating supplies. I did notice that Nikki and Jasmine were especially concerned with me, often asking if I was feeling all right. The constant questioning was annoying, but I couldn't blame them. I mean, I had thrown up quite violently earlier on. Numerous times, actually. I couldn't really blame them for being worried…

As we stayed in the tent, we were only half listening to the sound of the rain hitting off the tent material, then all of a sudden, it got worse. The rain was practically bouncing off the tent, making noises like bullets on glass as it ricocheted off. There wasn't any wind, thank God, but the sheer noise coming from the rain was bad enough. This wasn't right…This was the middle of the summer and the weather had been so good this morning. Rain like this wasn't normal for the middle of summer.

"They didn't forecast rain…did they?" Nikki asked, huddled up in a corner of the tent, her arms hugging her orange and red egg.

I shook my head, feeling a sudden chill go through my body. The temperature had taken a sudden drop and I had to pull my hoodie back on again.

"This is really unusual!" Jasmine actually had to shout to be heard over the noise of the rain now. "This is the middle of summer!"

"It's freezing…" Scott inputted.

"I'm not cold…" Nikki said, unhelpfully.

At that declaration, I shuffled over to where Nikki was sitting and huddled into her. To my surprise, she was radiating warmth! I breathed out with relief and snuggled in closer, already feeling my shivering body warm up. "You're so warm!" I grinned.

"It's the egg," Nikki explained for me.

I put my freezing hands on the egg and I was amazed to feel a warm, comforting heat radiating from it, and a rhythmic thumping pulse. I breathed out in amazement. This was the first time I had considered that egg to contain a real, living, breathing thing. Despite myself I smiled and looked up at Nikki, who smiled back.

As the night grew in, it got colder and colder and the rain became heavier and heavier. Whilst Scott and Nikki fell asleep, curled up under as many blankets and jackets as they had, Jasmine and I stayed up for a while. To make as much body heat as possible, we let out all our Pokemon. It was cramped and often uncomfortable, especially with Aurora's heavy, rounded body right on top of my stomach, Meloi shocking me occasionally in her sleep and Persian growling every time I moved a muscle, but at least it was warm. Jasmine fell asleep soon after, but I stayed awake, listening to the lashing of the rain against the tent, wondering what on earth had caused such a sudden change in the weather.

Little did I know, this was only the beginning of something _far _worse to come.

The rain had mostly let up by the morning; it was drizzling which wasn't exactly pleasant in itself, but it was a vast improvement on the torrential downpour that we had the previous night. We didn't have umbrellas either so we had to try and take the tent down as quickly as possible to avoid getting too wet. After we had the tent packed away, we were sodden, but as Nikki rightly said, "Why put on a raincoat if you're already wet?" and we carried on. Scott and Jasmine huffed, claiming she was just trying to make the best out of a bad situation and attempted to storm on ahead. I say "attempted" because the rain that had fallen overnight had turned the Route into a boggy marsh, forcing us to wade through thick mud. I cursed, wishing I had Wellington boots as we trudged through the gloopy sludge. We got stuck a few times, our feet sinking into the squelchy, disgusting mess. We had mud splattered all the way up our legs after literally two minutes of walking.

"This is torture…" Jasmine grumbled, trying to haul her stuck foot out of a particularly boggy patch of mud.

We'd thankfully called all our Pokemon back to their Pokeballs before we began our hike again. I don't think Meloi would have been impressed at having to navigate through the mud; it would have been too dirty and filthy for Monty's liking, considering he spent twenty three hours of the day grooming and licking himself. However, I do get the feeling Aurora would have enjoyed rolling around in it and getting herself gloriously covered in the stuff, but it would have been too much of a hassle to keep my eye on her as we moved forward.

The constant travelling was dire. Every inch of my body ached and stung from the effort of the long walk, and I was covered from head to foot in thick brown mud that had crusted over my jeans and t-shirt, making it increasingly difficult to move. Nikki had lost a shoe about a mile back and she was covered in tiny cuts all over her bare foot. At least she didn't complain and soldiered on. Jasmine and Scott did plenty complaining however throughout the whole day…

"This is taking too long!"

"Eww! All this mud is disgusting!"

"Ah, hell! It's raining _again_!"

"Ewww! Ewww! Scott, can't I ride on your Rhyhorn or something?"

"Why couldn't we wait for the rain to let up? Stupid rain! Don't make me come up there!"

"This is worse than the Great Marsh! I wouldn't be surprised if they opened up a _new _one here after all this!"

"Stupid rain!"

"I'm gonna come down with pneumonia, aren't I? We're _all _going to come down with it! Oh my God, we're all gonna die!"

"Idiot newscasters not telling us about this! How can they miss this? Are they dumb?"

"I don't wanna die out here! I don't wanna die from pneumonia out heeeeeeeeere!"

"ENOUGH!" I eventually bellowed, sending them both into a muffled silence. "We're not gonna get anywhere if you keep moaning about it! So put less energy into moving those mouths of yours and put more into _walking_!"

As I finished my rant and turned away I spat out loud to myself. "This could _not _get any worse!"

But just as I said that, a low rumble of thunder sounded in the distance and the heavens opened. The dull, overcast clouds that had been threatening another spill of rain finally gave in and the rain came down in floods. As the rain engulfed my almost-dried body, I blew out exasperated. I looked up right towards the heavens, spread my arms in submission and shouted out. "Thank you, universe! You just _love _proving me wrong, don't you!"

I looked across at Nikki, whose long black hair was lying limply, like rats' tails over her delicate face, then at Jasmine trying to pull her hood over her head, her bare legs almost blue from the cold, and then at Scott who looked about five seconds away from blowing a fuse.

"Okay, okay, let's just keep going…" I sighed, and turned around to keep going.

This was getting insane. I could handle a storm. Really, I could, if I knew about it beforehand, but for it to spring up so suddenly and not being prepared for it had really thrown me. This weather was unreal. Summers were normally full of glorious weather. I knew that this was a totally different region, probably with different weather patterns and climates and that, but the forecast had predicated fantastic weather for the next week at least. I'm no meteorologist, same as how I'm no fanatic Pokemon trainer, but I knew enough to know that weather didn't make dramatic turns like this unless there was a reason behind it.

Anyway, long story short, the four of us eventually made it to Mauville. We arrived at around six or seven in the evening, I think, but the whole place was in panic. People were running about like headless chickens shouting in alarm in the driving rain. We didn't find out what was causing the panic until after we had eaten dinner in the local Pokemon Centre, when a gaggle of trainers came storming in, complaining angrily that the only route leading east out of Mauville had been blocked! So, that meant the only route leading to Lilycove City was inaccessible…

Nikki and Scott disappeared soon after we heard that news to telephone their aunt and uncle in Lilycove, whilst Jasmine and I stayed behind to try and figure out what had caused this apparent blocking of the route. Details were scarce. All we knew was that _something _had caused something similar to a huge mudslide, meaning that the route out was impassable. The surrounding area was deemed too dangerous for even the rescue authorities, and they couldn't get near the incident to start clearing the mud and rocks that had fallen there. The rain was still falling too intensely, making it likely that more rocks and mud would shift under the rainfall, potentially causing more mudslides.

We hadn't heard any news of causalities, or even worse, deaths, thank goodness, although there were rumours circling around that there had been a group of trainers passing through there around the time the mudslide had hit…Obviously, everyone was worried sick, but considering not even the rescue services could go there to look to see if anyone was injured there, it was obviously out of the question for trainers to go out there. Not even really tough trainers and their Pokemon were permitted to go.

We heard a lot of trainers talking about the _cause_ of the mudslide. Most of them were attributing it to the sudden unexplainable severe rainfall that had been falling all day. Jasmine and I exchanged worried looks as we listened to the rumours and stories. Although the mudslide hadn't directly affected _us_, it meant that Nikki and Scott wouldn't be able to travel through the route to Lilycove until everything was cleared! Of course, we didn't want anyone to get hurt or killed either!

After getting off the phone with their hysterical aunt and uncle (I could hear them screeching from across the Pokemon Centre), Nikki and Scott returned to us later on. I had expected to see Nikki white faced and terrified, but she seemed calm enough. She explained to us that they weren't going to go to Lilycove city after all. In fact, Scott was going to head to Rustboro City and begin challenging Gym Leaders. Turns out, after seeing Elliot on television, he had made the decision there and then to start working his way up through the Gyms, passionately declaring that Elliot was now his rival. We laughed and wished him good luck with that, and then we all turned to Nikki expectantly. She blushed and asked in a tiny timid little voice if she would be able to come with me and Jasmine up to Lavaridge Town. The two of us grinned. Why did she even have to ask?

We all went to bed that night filled with a peculiar mix of feelings. I was over the moon ecstatic that Nikki was going to be coming with us to Lavaridge and I was happy for Scott considering he was going to go travelling and battling, exactly like he wanted to. I had a feeling he would go far. However, there were too many things still bothering me for me to feel happy, mainly that mudslide that had blocked the route out to Lilycove. As well as that I still couldn't get over the sudden change in weather from beautiful sunny summery weather to such a downpour of rainfall. And what about that eruption in Lavaridge…? Were my parents really there?

"_Are all these things connected?_" I found myself thinking as I tossed and turned late into the night. I could hear Jasmine and Nikki murmuring in their sleep and some of the Pokemon were snoring loudly, especially Meloi. All this worrying was beginning to give me a headache…

I sat up; massaging my head and then caught sight of two floating, disembodied glowing orbs at the other end of the room! I fought a sudden desire to screech and I pulled the blankets straight up to my nose, as if it would protect me!

"Mrrow?"

"Oh for God's…" I sighed, my heart thudding painfully in my chest. "Monty! You scared ten years offa me!" I hissed at him.

Realising that all I had been seeing was Monty's luminescent eyes in the darkness, I felt both relieved and very very stupid.

"What are you still doing up?" I whispered as Monty slowly padded up to me. I was confused at his sudden want to be anywhere near me, considering he was still being so standoffish and high maintenance. In fact when we first got to the room, I offered part of the bed to Monty in a gesture of friendship, but he refused to share with me, Meloi and Aurora and curled up on the floor. I guess for him, it was all or nothing.

He made that strange little meowing noise again. Now he was right next to the bed, looking at me straight in the eyes, unblinking. Those glowing eyes fixed constantly on me made me nervous. All the same, I gingerly reached out to pat him on the head. Surprisingly he let me stroke him. I ran my hands across his soft, luxurious fur and grinned to myself as he butted his head into my hand affectionately.

"Come on, why not jump up?" I suggested to him, budging over slightly to give him some room.

He looked at me once, considered it for a moment and then elegantly leapt up onto the bed and settled himself down, curling his long body into a ball. I stroked him absent-mindedly as he went to sleep. With Monty curled up next to me, as well as Meloi and Aurora taking up every spare inch of the bed, I was cramped and uncomfortable, hindering my sleep even more. And even when I was finally getting to that little happy place where I was close to sleep; the rain began pounding off the windows again. Loudly. I stole a glance at the clock. It flashed "2:53 AM" at me and I groaned.

The rain lashed against the windows as I lay wide awake listening to it. My thoughts turned to the mudslide that was blocking the route out to Lavaridge. I wondered if all this rain currently falling was going to make everything worse for the teams working to clear everything. Probably, I thought, sighing.

"_I wonder how far all this rain is spreading…_" I thought to myself. "_I know they said on the news that Mt Chimney in Lavaridge wasn't actually erupting or showing any signs of magma, but at least if it _was _all this rain should have stopped it…_"

"Mrrrow…" Monty protested in his sleep as I tried to turn around and somehow make myself more comfortable.

I listened to the rain bouncing off the windows and ceilings and eventually resorted to pulling a pillow over my head to muffle the noise. I finally slept, but I was uneasy and tense, inexplicably filled with sort of an impending feeling that something bad was about to happen, and it was a twitchy, disturbed sleep.

* * *

**Author's Note**

**Hmm. Another chapter where not much happens...**

**I've decided that from this chapter on I'm going to stop writing lengthy travelling scenes as I really want to advance the plot. **

**I've uploaded two drawings for my fics. One of Sienna, Jasmine, Nikki and their respective Pokemon Meloi, Skittle and Blaze. The other is of Mai and Kei and Kei's Milotic from my other fic "The Hothead and the Layabout". Check the links out on my profile page. **

**Now to my lovely reviewers! Thank you to all those who congratulated me on getting into university!**

**WinterDahlia: Yes, it was her father's fault. There is a wider story behind it though; I hope I can find time to write it. ****rawrrxixeatxyou: You will be seeing Elliot very soon! Maybe in three or four chapters? Also the identity of the Pokemon in the egg will be revaled soon too! AmpharosLover666: I swear on my life I didn't know your last name is Wood too! It's a small world, huh? P.S You are awesome. Enough said. Anonymous: Thank you very much for your suggestions on Sienna's team. I have actually considered them for a long time, especially Swablu...Hmm...I'm still coming up blank on what Pokemon she should get next...Syzdoth: Again, no worries on the mix-up! I should have thought to have replaced Murphy with Monty; it would have made perfect sense! I know it's been a long time coming, considering all the mindless filler and development but the plot IS coming again. A lot of stuff happens in the next Chapter and then it all kicks off from then! :)**

**Wow. Long author's note yet again. **

**Please read and review if you can. **


	22. Sadness and Sorrow

We awoke to bad news.

Two young rookie trainers had been killed and a third had been hospitalized due to the mudslide that had struck the previous day. The trainers who had been travelling the route at the time the mudslide had hit had been crushed under the weight of the fallen mud and rocks. Rescue operations had started at early dawn when the rain finally let up and the bodies had been discovered at around six in the morning. The third trainer had been lying injured in the cold and the rain all night and had immediately been transported to hospital. From what we were hearing no-one knew exactly what kind of condition the third was in, but apparently the early signs weren't good.

There was a stoic atmosphere hanging around the Pokemon Centre and the four of us ate breakfast in complete silence. The Pokemon Centre, normally a hive of activity every morning with the shouts and laughter of trainers and Pokemon was now cast over with a deathly quiet. No trainers made eye contact with each other and kept themselves to themselves as they spooned up their cereal or buttered their toast and even the Pokemon seemed subdued as they lapped up their own food, obviously picking up on the atmosphere. Even the Centre's Nurse Joy wasn't her usual happy cheery self as she took our Pokeballs to heal our Pokemon and who could blame her? The deaths were horrible news.

The deaths were all over the news and it seemed to be playing on a constant loop. The TV in the lounge was crowded, as you would expect, so I never got much of a chance to flick channels to see how Elliot was doing in his Elite Four challenge or if there were any updates on the volcano in Lavaridge. Updates about the dead trainers flashed up every now and again and soon enough, the trainers were identified and there were pictures of them soon showing on the television. It was a horrible thing seeing their faces on the television. They were only young little things, no older than Scott. I swallowed hard when I thought about how easily their lives had been taken away from them and I fought the urge to cry right there and then.

I eventually gave up on watching the television in a vain attempt at finding out information about Lavaridge and Elliot and consulted the computer instead. I pulled up the information website for the Elite Four and looked at the status of the challengers. I discovered they were only halfway through the list of competitors but still, no-one had yet beaten the Elite Four. A few had come close, apparently some reaching all the way to the fourth member but falling short at the last hurdle. I sighed sadly, knowing that if they were only halfway through the Elite Four challenge, Elliot still hadn't battled.

Next thing I did was find the news website. It took a lot of sifting through all the information about the deaths here to find an updated article about the volcano at Lavaridge, but I eventually found a paragraph of information. The volcano was still spewing thick ash into the air, but it had calmed considerably. As I had suspected earlier, the rain that had been tormenting us lately had spread all the way to Lavaridge. All the people that were studying Mt Chimney weren't that happy that the flames of Mt Chimney were in danger of being doused from the heavy rainfall. I was confused at this. There was a threat of molten magma for goodness sake! Surely they_ wanted_ to the rain to nullify any kind of lava threatening to spill out?

I checked the forecast for the day just to be sure, even though I knew with the rain still drumming against the window it wasn't looking likely to improve. I sighed when I saw the rain was forecast for at least the next couple of days, not just here in Mauville but almost _everywhere _in Hoenn. Forecasters were concerned obviously at this freak weather that had sprung up out of nowhere and I couldn't blame them. People had died as a result, after all…

As I logged off the computer and joined up with Nikki, Jasmine and Scott to leave, I couldn't help but have a peculiar feeling that this whole thing was connected…My mother disappearing after my father, the eruption in Lavaridge, the freak weather…The small part of my brain that still clung onto common sense was telling me that these things _could _and probably _were _coincidences, but something was telling me right at the back of my mind that there was something that connected them.

I just didn't know what.

We bade a somewhat tearful goodbye to Scott as he was making his way west across Route 117, destined for Rustboro City. I understood Nikki's tears as she made him promise to be careful when he was on his own. Seeing those two trainers, no older than Scott on the television identified as dead had hit her hard, and it was suddenly apparent to her that that could easily have been her own brother. She hugged him so fiercely I thought his spine was going to snap.

"I'll be fine!" he insisted over and over again. "I've got Cubone and Rhyhorn to protect me and I'll catch loads of Pokemon when I'm travelling anyway! Come on, sis, lighten up! I'm not a kid!"

"I know…" Nikki managed to say through her tears. "Just…be safe, okay? Promise me you'll be safe!"

"Jeez, all right, all right, I promise! You're such a worrywart!"

"And you'll call me everyday?"

"Well, maybe not _every _day…."

"Scottie!"

"All right, jeez, every day if it makes you happy!"

The siblings hugged one more time before Scott was eventually able to prise himself from Nikki. He slung his heavy backpack full of newly bought supplies on his back, double checked his two Pokeballs at his waist and shot me and Jasmine a quick wave. A hint of a smile touched on his face before he turned around and set off on his way. After a few steps, he stopped, as if something had suddenly occurred to him. He turned around again and looked directly at me. "Hey, Sienna?"

"Yeah?" I called back.

"If you run into that Elliot guy again, give him a message from me?"

"Shoot."

"Tell him that he better not burn out before I get a chance to battle him! Even if he doesn't beat the Elite Four, I'm still gonna find him and battle him! And if he does, all the better! You tell him that Scott Harper is gonna go to Kanto and steal his Championship from right out underneath him! You got that?"

"Got it," I grinned.

"Awesome." He shot me a fly grin, turned around again and walked off down his own path. As I watched him go, I wondered to myself why he was so intent on beating Elliot…He was just some random guy Scott had seen on the television, really, when you thought about it. Why did he have his sights so firmly set on Elliot?

We watched Scott for a while until he was nothing but a speck on the horizon and eventually he disappeared from sight. Nikki let out a juddering sigh as she lost sight of him. At that point, I understood how she felt. Being separated from family like that was a hard thing to deal with at first. I touched her lightly on the shoulder to reassure her, and then pulled out my map from my backpack.

"Right ladies," I said, opening out the map. "Let's get going."

We set off for Lavaridge later that day. It was difficult getting out of the city as you could expect, considering the amount of people coming _in _to the city. There were especially a lot of media coming in to report on the deaths. I lost count of the amount of times we were hassled by reporters wanting to interview us, but I thank God for Jasmine and her Herculean strength as she pushed us through the hoards quite effectively and we were able to go on our way.

The rain was still falling as we walked, kicking up a low hanging mist which made it difficult to see where we were going. Thankfully the Nurse Joy at the Pokemon Centre had taken pity on us and had given us a couple of umbrellas to keep the worst of the rain off of us.

It took us a little under four days to reach Lavaridge Town. I cursed the fact that it had taken so long. We couldn't travel for longer than a few hours at a time on the first three days before we had to be careful to get out of the torrential rain and dry off and rest up every now and then before we could carry on. Thankfully there were no shortages of rest houses and lodges on the way up to Lavaridge, so it wasn't a major disaster. I was eager to keep up with the news every time we stopped in a new place, but on the rare occasion I did get to see the news, there wasn't anything much on it apart from the deaths at Mauville. On the second day I managed to see a few seconds of footage from the live reports at the Indigo Plateau where they were televising the last couple of trainers taking on the Elite Four. A trainer named Robert Taylor was taking on the second member of the Elite Four, but he seemed to be struggling. I sighed at this. How freaking long did it take for it to be Elliot's turn? It had almost been six days! However, as Jasmine pointed out for me, the whole event often took a week or more to reach its end, considering the sheer number of trainers and the intensity of the battles. If _I_ was this nervous and apprehensive about Elliot's battle, I wondered how bad Elliot was feeling! At least though, if they were working through the trainers with the last names beginning with "T" I knew that it wouldn't take long now for Elliot's battle to start. I was extremely annoyed that I would probably miss it but unfortunately I just couldn't do anything about it. I couldn't exactly hang around waiting for it to happen, just to see Elliot on the television.

On the fourth day, the same day we eventually rolled into Lavaridge Town, the rain all of a sudden stopped as quickly as it had come. We had been sitting in a rest house sipping hot chocolates when the downcast misty grey clouds all suddenly parted and cleared, letting the brilliant sun shine through. The three of us and all the tourists blinked in surprise and exchanged puzzled looks as the sky turned a flawless blue and the sun beat down. We half expected the good weather not to last, but it did! It was gloriously warm and sunny with a lick of a wind and the three of us made our way happily in the warm sunshine. This was gonna be a breeze!

Or so we thought.

"Oh my _God_!" I wheezed and panted as we made the west turn towards the aptly named Fiery Path. Sweat was dripping down my back and face and my body felt hot and heavy like my joints were filled with sand. "Why is it so _hot_?"

"This is not funny…" Jasmine collapsed on the ground, her chest heaving, and her face bright red. "First it's like a storm hit and now there's a heatwave! I know it's the middle of summer…but come _on_! What is _with _this weather?"

Nikki said nothing and pulled a few water bottles from her bag and tossed us one each. I downed mine almost immediately, feeling the fiery weight of the sun against my back. I looked up at the sky and saw the sun, a relentless burning disk hanging in a blue sky completely unblemished of cloud. I sighed. With no clouds it meant we were at the mercy of the sun on a total uphill climb right next to a _volcano_. As we got closer and closer along Route 112, nearing Fiery Path we could see the peak of the volcano get bigger and bigger. Smoke was drifting lazily from the mouth of it and we could already see tiny flakes of ash falling around us.

We had to take a cable car up the volcano's side to reach Lavaridge Town instead of trying to clamber over huge ledges and other virtually impassable obstacles. Taking the cable car meant that we would be transported right to the top of Mt Chimney, then we'd have to travel down the side of the mountain to reach Lavaridge Town. I campaigned vigorously for taking this route instead of trying to hike and climb across the huge ledges and hills in the vicious heat, and even though Nikki and Jasmine were sceptical, they eventually relented.

However, I instantly regretted this decision when we got into the cable car. It was torture.

We were crammed into a tiny box ascending the side of the volcano at what felt like a mile an hour. It felt like a cage and it rocked and creaked ominously at the slightest movement or breath of wind as it inched up the volcano and Nikki, as it turned out was terrified of heights and sobbed most of the way up. Whatever the stupid thing was made out of, it was mostly clear, like glass so we could see right down under our feet. Even I was frightened when I realised that all that separated us from what looked like a sixty foot drop was a slab of flimsy looking clear material. The ash was falling thick and heavy now, so heavy we couldn't even see out the sides without seeing anything but a flurry of ash, which I guess was a small mercy. I wasn't one for the views at this height. A blanket of ash was beginning to form on the top of the cable car too.

I felt horribly confined up there; the place was so small we couldn't even sit down and we were squashed together like sardines, barely even room enough to lift an arm. What made it worse was that in the sudden heatwave, everything seemed ten times worse as there was practically no ventilation and the heat in that tiny place was unreal.

After what felt like an age, the three of us eventually reached the top and we were allowed off the cable car. Even after all that, we still had a long way to go before we actually reached Lavaridge Town. After getting instruction from a few local trainers, we discovered we had to go down something known as Jagged Pass. That meant making a perilous descent, on foot, down the steep, mountainous side of Mt Chimney. Nikki was still so shaken that she could barely put one foot down in front of another and that was a dangerous combination coupled with steep, rugged rocks and sharp ledges. It was a hard, extreme challenge physically, especially with all the ash falling thickly around us, obscuring our vision.

When we eventually caught sight of the town ahead of us, I think we all cheered in relief and excitement, even Nikki and we somehow found the strength to drag our weary bodies to the local Pokemon Centre. We were soaked through with sweat and stunk to high heaven, Nikki was in inconsolable tears and we were all exhausted. We must have looked a right state to the locals, but we didn't care. We checked into a room and I think I spent about an hour in one of the shower rooms until I was completely sure I had the stench of the pungent body odour off of me. I was glad to be able to clean all my sweaty, dirty clothes again too in the laundrette.

When I returned from my lengthy shower, Nikki and Jasmine were sitting in the room playing with and feeding all their Pokemon, also showing the telltale signs of being newly washed. Both had their hair lying limp and wet around their shoulders and neither of them were wearing socks or shoes but padding around in bare feet. They looked noticeably better, but Nikki's eyes were still horribly red though. I sighed, understanding her pain. If her fear of heights was on any comparison to my fear of water, I knew why she was so upset.

We didn't question her about it and instead left for dinner downstairs. I hopefully checked the television for news on the Indigo Plateau, but they were still working through the trainers whose last names began with T (apparently there was a LOT of them).

Dinner was a relaxed affair and whoever was responsible for cooking was conscious of the hot weather and served a selection of colder, lighter dishes much to the appreciation of the trainers staying there. I for one was delighted with the choices of summery salads and pasta dishes. The heatwave was actually becoming unbearable and at its best was merely tolerable. They had the bright idea at first of opening all the windows in the Pokemon Centre, but after flurries of ash kept blowing into the rooms they changed their minds and instead only allowed the windows to be opened halfway. The heat was made even worse, I guess, through the fact we were so close to a volcano…

None of us, not even the people reporting on the weather could come up with an explanation for the sudden extreme change from torrential rain to an intolerable heatwave. Hoenn was a humid region anyway, apparently but no-one had seen anything like this before. With no signs that the heatwave was letting up anytime soon, the three of us dressed down to the barest minimum we could get away and tried to figure out a plan of attack, mainly involving scouring the town.

First off, we decided to go down to local Pokemon Mart. Nikki for some reasons insisted on bringing her egg, which I didn't understand. She chose to carry it as well, not slip it into her backpack like she normally did. She brought her backpack along anyway, as we all did. We needed to pick up some supplies.

On our way down to the mart, I released Meloi, Aurora and Monty for a bit of exercise. Meloi and Aurora gambolled around happily whereas Monty padded along nonchalantly at my side, swishing his tail from side to side, looking up at me occasionally.

We didn't need to stock up on much, just a few things we were running short of, such as potions and ethers. Jasmine gleefully picked up a couple of repels that the people over the counter claimed would keep wild Pokemon away. I for one was sceptical as Jasmine tried to spray the stuff all over the three of us and I shooed her away, protesting loudly. My scepticism was unjust though as Monty began hissing and spitting at Jasmine when he caught a smell of it, running right to the opposite end of the store, kicking up such a fuss I eventually recalled all three Pokemon to their Pokeballs again.

I laughed when the store clerk told us that the effect of a repel only lasted for a short time, and Jasmine had just pretty much wasted the whole bottle she had just bought; meaning that by the time we actually _got _to a place where there was wild Pokemon, it would have worn off by then. Harassed, Jasmine started buying more of them, complaining loudly at the so called "false advertising" whilst I edged away, pretending I didn't know her.

"Hey, did you hear? About the disappearances?"

My ears pricked as I heard a snippet of conversation coming from the back of the Pokemon mart. Two novice trainers were exchanging hushed words excitedly and I'll admit…I was curious. I sneaked stealthily across the back of the shop and pretended to be fascinated by the Pokemon themed mail.

The second trainer, a young blonde girly girl was speaking now. "Disappearances? What are you talking about?"

"You haven't heard?" a tomboyish girl dressed in khakis and a white tank top sounded surprised. "It's all over the town!"

"_What _is?"

The tomboy girl lowered her voice again so I had to strain to listen. "People have been disappearing, you know? Lately all the people that go up to the peak of Mt Chimney to see how it's doing just disappear!"

My eyebrows knotted together in a frown as I replaced a blue and white Wingull themed mail and picked up a light brown Zigzagoon one and pretended to investigate it with great interest.

"Disappear? You're joking, right?"

"I'm dead serious!" the tomboy girl insisted.

The other girl sounded sceptical. "All right, then why haven't we heard anyone talking about it in the neighbourhood? Or seen anything on the news about it?

"_Because… _the reporters they sent disappeared too!"

"Please…that's just stupid. People just don't disappear into thin air!"

"I am telling you, it's true!" the tomboy was practically jumping up and down now in an attempt to get her friend to listen.

"So you're telling me that all these people who go up to look at the volcano just disappear and don't come back?"

"That's _exactly _what I'm saying!"

I put the Zigzagoon one back in its pile and picked another at random. A candyfloss pink Cleffa mail. Although the colours were a bit sugary, the Cleffa was cute; I'd give whoever designed it that.

"I'm sorry, I just don't believe you. People don't disappear into thin air like that. They probably just got lost up there."

"For almost a week?"

"Stranger things have happened."

"Ugh! You're impossible!" the tomboy stamped her foot – do people really _do _that in real life? – and stormed out, her friend following her, shouting after her.

I absentmindedly followed them to the door meaning to follow them, but a store clerk called on me. "Miss? Are you going to buy that?"

"Huh?" I looked down at the vibrant yellow thunderbolt decorated Mareep mail I had somehow taken from the rack and had almost walked off with. I blushed violently as Nikki and Jasmine looked at me oddly. Trying to act like I hadn't just totally spaced out, I casually strolled up to the counter and paid for the Mareep mail as if that had been my intention all along.

I waited until after we got outside the Pokemon Mart and a safe distance away before I grabbed both Nikki and Jasmine and hauled them into a shadowy recluse to speak to them.

"You guys! You are never gonna believe what I just heard!"

* * *

**Author's Note**

**Quicker update than I'd expected...don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing...**

**Anyone notice the Naruto reference?**

**I'm so excited now that the plot is going to advance and all my lovely readers can stop reading filler! :)**

**Kyogreperson: Thank you for taking the time to submit your first review! New readers always make me happy! To answer your question (cos I forget loads of my readers are actually American and not British like me), I think University is the equivalent to a college over with you. Universities give you the number of grades they want you to get, and the levels of the grades they want you to achieve (like I needed AABB to get into my course) and then you have to reach them to be accepted to study for a degree! It's quite a competitive thing, I assure you****! And yep, Scott's now gone...never to be seen again (just kiddin', he'll be back in later chapters). I think Monty was only being nice because he wanted to get space on the bed. He's very fickle. One minute he likes you, then the next he hates you :)**

**AmpharosLover666: The identity of the eggy as you call it will be revealed VERY SOON. I mean, they're gonna be hiking up the side of a volcano with a fire type egg. If that doesn't make the thing hatch, nothing will! :)**

**Anonymous: I have no idea how bad a Canadian winter would be...probably just as bad as a Scottish winter... Yep, what is it now? Fourth or fifth generation Pokemon? I can't even keep up anymore! So not funny! :(**

**Read and Review if you can!**


	23. Apprehension

I relayed the story to Jasmine and Nikki eagerly. As I talked, I saw Jasmine's face slowly twist into anger. I knew exactly how she was going to react when I told her what I wanted to do, but it still didn't stop me asking. As I expected, her response was explosive.

"Are you _insane_!"

Both me and Nikki winced as she screeched.

"Now, Jasmine…" I tried to calm her down.

"Sienna, you're insane! I mean, you _are_ kidding me, aren't you?"

"No, I'm not! I want to go up there!" I insisted.

"So, you want to go trekking up to a volcano that could probably _blow _at any moment where people are rumoured to be _disappearing_? All in the middle of a freakin' heatwave! Sienna, you have officially lost it!"

"I haven't _lost _anything," I said patiently. "I heard those girls talking about people disappearing up at Mt Chimney. Come on, aren't you even a little bit interested in that?"

"Going up there is just asking to get ourselves kidnapped as well!"

"Well, good!" I said firmly. "Then we'd at least know what was happening!"

"Sienna!"

"Don't you remember why I came here in the first place? I came here looking for an incident in Hoenn! I come here, find out a volcano is erupting and then people are apparently disappearing when they go up there to investigate! If that's not an "incident", I don't know what is! I can't just ignore it when there's a possibility that it _could _be the incident my mum was talking about! If I don't go there and she _is _there...I could never—"

"It's okay, Sienna…" Nikki cut in. "If…if…you want to go up there…then I'll go with you."

"You will?" I asked eagerly.

"Well, like you said…your mum could be there." She said. "If she is there after all and you miss her…well…I wouldn't like to see that happen…"

I smiled, feeling all of a sudden very touched. "Thanks Nikki…"

She didn't say anything, just smiled back and tightened her arms around her red and orange egg, hugging it closer.

Jasmine let out a sigh. "All right. Since I'll be public enemy number one if I don't go with you, you can count me in."

"Really?" I said eagerly.

"Yeah, why not…" she shrugged, then looked surprised when I grabbed her into a hug. "Hey! What are you—?"

"Thank you, Jasmine!"

She blinked at me before prying me off. "I'm not doing just cos you want me to, y'know?" she grinned, but I knew she was just teasing me. "If people really disappeared up there, it should be our duty as super strong Pokemon trainers to find them and help them."

"Jasmine…umm…we're not exactly Pokemon Rangers, you know?" Nikki ventured.

I opened my mouth to ask what the heck a Pokemon Ranger was supposed to be, but Jasmine cut me off. "Ah, who cares? It still wouldn't be right to ignore people who could be in distress."

"You've got a good point," I said, nodding. "If people are in danger up there, we should go and help them."

"You'd think though that people would have said something if they noticed their friends or their family had gone missing, though…wouldn't you?" Nikki inputted.

"Maybe," I nodded.

"Well, how about we go and find out from the locals?" Jasmine suggested.

"What?" I frowned at her. "Now? But shouldn't we go up to the volcano straight away?"

"Are you kidding?" she looked at me like I was insane. "We can't go trekking up to a volcano in the middle of a boiling hot day! We'll be roasted before we even get there!"

"So, what do you propose we do, then?" I asked her, folding my arms.

"Easy!" she grinned. "We go at night!"

"Night?" both me and Nikki looked at her oddly.

"Exactly. Don't you know that people who go into deserts to explore only travel during the night? They rest during the day and travel at night when it's _cooler_."

"Ohhh, I see!" I understood. Jeez, and I thought _I _was a hive of useless information. "So we won't burn ourselves to a crisp!"

"See, I _do _speak a little sense." Jasmine grinned. "Now, if we go and find out exactly what it is we're dealing with here, we'll be a little more prepared. Let's go, let's go!" she grabbed the two of us by our wrists and dragged us back into the town, ignoring our pained protests she was almost breaking them!

* * *

We spent the majority of that day investigating around the town, trying to figure out if the rumours I had overheard in the Pokemon Mart were true, and after only a half an hour of scouting, we discovered that they were indeed true. A pair of researchers from a local lab nearby had gone up to the volcano a few days prior to our arrival, after they finally deemed it safe enough to explore, and had never come back. Then, we spoke to the mother of a local boy of about fourteen, who had gone up there with his trusted partner Slugma (whatever one of _those _was). From this, our suspicions were further piqued as the mother was hysterical as you could imagine, frantically insisting that her son had been up and down that volcano all his life with that Slugma of his; he wasn't just going to _disappear_. Then finally, we learned that earlier on in the morning when the rain had stopped, the local Gym Leader Flannery had gone to investigate the disappearances herself, but still hadn't come back. That clinched it. If even the Gym Leader, a powerful Fire type trainer hadn't returned by now, there was _definitely _something fishy going on.

We waited until nightfall like Jasmine had suggested to go up to the volcano. We spent the majority of the day exercising our Pokemon, having finally getting the opportunity to give them some free reign. It wasn't exactly practical to have a high class Persian or a feisty electric Mareep out in a downpour of rain, but at least now in the sun we could let them run about. We ended up sitting in the shade as much as we could, trying to keep out of the heat. Monty especially was not impressed with the heat and stubbornly sat in the shade, preening his fur. The other Pokemon seemed more interested in the hot weather, especially Blaze, Dixie and Sulphur who were fire types. For the Pokemon less used to such extreme heat Mizu and Aurora happily soaked them down with water to keep them cool, if a little vigorously in Aurora's case sometimes…

"Ooooh! Oooh!" Nikki suddenly yelled excitedly out of nowhere while we were all sitting in the shade, watching the Pokemon frolic and run around.

"What? What?" I gasped, sitting bolt upright, vaguely noticing I had been close to actually falling asleep in the stifling heat.

"My egg! My egg!"

"Is it hatching?" Jasmine asked excitedly.

"No, not exactly!" Nikki held her egg up, pressing her ear to its hard, orange shell. "But I felt something move inside there!"

"You did?" I pressed my hands on the egg to feel for myself, and to my delight I felt a tiny shift underneath the shell, followed by a succession of little tapping sounds. Nikki was beaming like a proud mother as she cradled her egg happily in her arms. "It'll hatch soon," she grinned cheerfully.

"Oh, Nikki that's brilliant! I'm so happy for—WAH!"

It was however at that point, during what should have been a proud, happy moment that I was blasted in the face by a jet of freezing icy water. Courtesy of Aurora, in case you hadn't guessed. Nikki shrieked and leapt to her feet, holding her precious egg out of the line of fire while I sat there dripping wet. I wasn't exactly angry; the cold water wasn't exactly unpleasant – in fact it was very refreshing – in the middle of such a hot day. Aurora was there clapping her tiny flippers and making a joyful chuckling sound, so I couldn't quite tell if she had done it on purpose or by accident. I couldn't help but smile and soon there was a highly competitive and refreshing water fight going on between both humans _and _Pokemon, although Nikki stayed right where she was, opting to keep an eye on her egg and the Pokemon sitting out; all the fire types, Terra and Monty.

We returned to the Pokemon Centre for the evening meal and then took refuge in our room until night fell. We slept a little, knowing that there probably wouldn't be much of a chance for sleeping later on, setting a little tiny alarm clock for waking up just after twelve at Jasmine's insistence. She claimed it would be a lot easier to scale the volcano in the refreshing coolness of late night, but I was sceptical. The middle of the night seemed like an awfully late and pretty scary time to be going spelunking.

After Jasmine convinced me and Nikki that her way was the best way, it soon became evident that it was going to be tricky getting out of the centre without being seen. This was mainly because Pokemon Centres were open and staffed twenty four hours a day, meaning that there would be a Nurse on duty even when we were going to sneak out. We didn't exactly want her interfering as we knew she would. I mean, what adult wouldn't be concerned seeing three teenage girls taking off so late at night? So, we had to wait until she stepped out of the main reception to get herself a cup of coffee before the three of us made a mad dash for the door.

It was pitch black outside; not surprising considering it was after twelve at night, when we scurried out of the Pokemon Centre and none of us had torches either, having stupidly left Jasmine's upstairs in the room. What idiots forget torches going out on a midnight expedition, for God's sake? It was too risky to chance going back for it, so we had to use the sparse light coming from the windows of the centre to get us the first few metres until we were a safe distance away that we wouldn't be seen.

"I feel like a cat burglar or something!" Nikki whispered, her arms clutched around her egg.

"Nikki, seriously, put that egg in your bag!" Jasmine hissed back. "You won't be able to climb up the volcano with that in your hands!"

"But it's gonna hatch soon…" she protested weakly, reluctantly putting the egg back into her backpack with a loud, tortured sigh.

"Guys, we're not going to be climbing _anywhere_ if we don't get some sort of light!" I said, swearing as I tripped over a rock.

"Well, we don't have any torches…" Nikki said sadly.

I raised an eyebrow at them, but they probably didn't see it. "Are you guys serious? Are you Pokemon trainers or not?"

"Oh, yeah." They both said and I could hear the sheepish grins in their voices.

A moment later two Pokeballs burst open and the surrounding area was filled with a comforting orange light as Blaze and Sulphur appeared.

"Charmander! Char! Charmander!" Blaze jumped up and down happily, swishing his long fire tipped tail around, casting long shadows across the ground.

"Cynda? Cyndaquil!" Sulphur looked around, a little confused by the dark surroundings and on Jasmine's request, puffed up the fire on his back, giving us more light to work with.

It took us a long time to get up and past Jagged Pass, as you could expect. We had thought coming _down _the steep slope was hard enough, but going up it was next to impossible. Not only was it an incredibly _physical_ challenge, requiring a lot of climbing, lifting and hoisting, but even with Sulphur and Blaze giving us as much light as they could possibly give us, it was still too dark for us to see any further than a few feet in front of our faces. It took us at least an hour to scale the bloody thing, but at least we made it, more or less intact.

The three of us – five if you included Blaze and Sulphur – stood expectantly at the mouth of the volcano. We couldn't see far enough down into the mouth of the volcano in the inky darkness to see if there was lava lying there at its depths, and if there was, we certainly couldn't hear any activity from it. We could feel the heat though and it was uncomfortably warm, but at least it was tolerable. Ash was falling slightly around us, but other than that, all was quiet and nothing else moved.

"Are you sure this is the place they said the people disappeared?" Nikki whispered.

"Yes!" Jasmine said impatiently. "Everyone I spoke to said that the people disappeared when they reached the mouth of the volcano. Which is where we're standing right now."

I shuddered. I'd begun to regret coming out at night now. It was like we were just asking to be jumped and captured by whatever creature or force or _thing _had caused all the people to disappear. I was beginning to feel scared.

"I really wish we hadn't come at night…" Nikki whispered.

"Me too…" I murmured looking out at the endless expanse of blackness around us. _"Why in the hell didn't we come at like eight or nine at night when it's still light and still cooler than during the day? It wouldn't be so damn scary, either! Stupid Jasmine and her stupid ideas! Why'd we let her talk us into this_?"

I mentally slapped myself for getting myself wound up. "_Come on, Sienna! This is stupid! It's just night time! There's nothing scary about this at all! Pull yourself together! You're here for a reason; now get a grip! This is as close to an incident in Hoenn as you can get! Your mum could be here for God's sake!"_

"Calm down, you two." Jasmine, always the voice of reason, cut in, mirroring my fierce pep talk with myself exactly. "There's nothing to be scared of. I told you, this is the best time for exploring hot places. Now, come on, let's have a look around."

Although I had managed to convince myself that we were not going to be randomly jumped and attacked by _whatever _had caused the disappearances in the first place, I felt on edge as I gingerly felt my way around, my eyes still not really adjusted. I still couldn't help but think it would have been better to come at a more sensible hour, like maybe nine at night, ten at a push, but Jasmine had been so insistent that it was better to go when it was really dark and therefore, really cool that Nikki and I didn't get a choice in the matter.

Don't get me wrong, I did admit that travelling in this cooler temperature was much better than travelling in the heat that was still pretty strong at around nine at night, but to me, being here so late was just asking for trouble. I still debated this fierce internal war between being scared and trying to pull myself together and not be a wuss whilst Jasmine and Nikki were still exploring ten minutes later.

I joined Nikki and Jasmine at the other end of the volcano. Nikki looked terrified but was attempting to keep a brave face, though she kept questioning why we all had to come out this late! Jasmine kept explaining over and over again that the best time to go exploring hot places was at night, when it was cool. Also, she added that if something really _was _causing disappearances, like a giant wild Pokemon or something, it would most likely be inactive at night, giving us plenty time to snoop around. She said all this very matter-of-factly, sending shudders of fear down my spine and probably Nikki's too.

Suddenly, a twig snapped.

I screamed. Jasmine screamed. Nikki screamed. The three of us grabbed onto each other, completely terrified out of our wits. Even Blaze and Sulphur squeaked and in Sulphur's fright, his fire dimmed leaving us with only the measly light from Blaze's tail fire. For a moment, none of us dared move. Or breathe. I could hear my heart thudding painfully against my rib cage. After a minute or two of standing rigid, ears pricked for even the slightest little _shift _of earth or the tiniest noise, we eventually dared to relax, all giggling nervously for being so easily spooked.

"Nu?"

"Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" We all screamed again at the sudden noise, trying to clutch on to each other, suddenly terrified out of our wits.

"Nu!" the _thing _said again, and then I felt _something_ bump into my leg.

I screamed again and fell backwards straight onto the ground, bringing a screeching Jasmine down with me. She landed on top of me, making me squeal as she squashed the breath out of me! Nikki was the only one who was still standing, but surprisingly, she wasn't screaming or making a fuss, in fact she was bending down to look at something.

"Ni…Ni…Nikki?" I ventured shakily. "What are you doing?"

"Come and look," she told me.

Jasmine and I exchanged worried looks before we got to our feet and squinting in the dark, we caught sight of what had terrified the life out of us before. My mouth dropped open and Jasmine groaned as we realised how stupid we had been.

"Nu…"

Illuminated by the renewed flames of Blaze and Sulphur I was able to see again clearly. What was facing us looked like the most gormless Pokemon I had ever seen. The thing looked like a tiny yellow camel with a rather simple look on its face. Jasmine let out a sigh.

"Can't believe we got terrified by a _Numel _of all things…" she groaned.

"Why? What's wrong with it?" Nikki looked hurt as she patted the little camel.

"Come on, Nikki, for lack of a better word, they're slow."

Even at the obvious insult, the Numel just blinked stupidly, proving her point.

"Well,_ I_ think it's cute." Nikki said traitorously.

Jasmine let out a tired sigh. "Nikki, come_ on_. Leave that thing where it is and let's go."

Nikki let out a sad little moan and got up.

"Nu! Nu!" the Numel protested and suddenly latched itself onto Nikki's leg, toppling her over in the process.

Jasmine and I stared dumbly at Nikki who had just been knocked over with the exact same expression the Numel had just been displaying. Nikki eventually managed to unhook herself from the camel Pokemon and get to her feet, only to have it suction onto her legs again. Jasmine sighed.

"Nikki, get rid of that thing and let's go."

Nikki looked up at us with a pleading look on her face. "…wh…what harm could it do?"

"Plenty." Jasmine said, grabbing Nikki by the wrist and yanking her forward. "Come on, let's go."

"Bu…but!" Nikki protested weakly as she was towed along by Jasmine across to the other end of the mouth of the volcano. She had no hope in hell in getting free. I scratched my head sheepishly, looked at the now despondent Numel and followed them.

I looked back a few moments later, just out of curiosity to see if the Numel had disappeared. "Uhh…guys? I think we have a problem."

"Huh?" both Nikki and Jasmine turned around to look. I jerked my thumb over my shoulder to show the Numel toddling along happily behind me, its vacant eyes fixed firmly on Nikki.

Nikki grinned and knelt down to pat the camel Pokemon who protested, loudly, until Nikki eventually fed it some berries from her bag. "Aww, isn't it cute?" She grinned happily.

"No." Jasmine and I said in unison.

"Aww, I think he is!" Nikki said. "He's a Fire type, isn't he?"

"Fire _and_ Ground." Jasmine corrected. I often wondered where that girl got all her seemingly endless knowledge of Pokemon. "Double weakness to Water Pokemon, Nikki," she warned her.

"I don't really mind. I'm don't exactly want to go challenging gyms like Scott. I want to get into contests!"

Jasmine sighed.

"Hey, little one?" Nikki fed the Numel another couple of berries. "Do you want to come with me?"

The Numel looked at Nikki with glazed over eyes. "Nu!"

"I'll take that as a yes!" Nikki grinned, throwing her arms around the Numel's body, hugging the totally oblivious Pokemon close as it lapped up the berries she had dropped on the ground.

Just out of curiosity, I fished in my bag for my lately somewhat disused Pokedex and pointed the scanner at the Numel.

"_Numel, the Numb Pokemon. Its humped back stores intensely hot magma. In rain, the magma cools, slowing its movement_."

The personal information of the Pokedex flashed up and I relayed them to Nikki, grateful for the Pokedex's bright display, as she dug around in her bag for a spare Pokeball. "Okay, this is a female Numel, level 16 and it knows Tackle, Ember, Magnitude and Focus Energy."

"Cool!" Nikki grinned, eventually producing a Pokeball. "Okay, Numel! Ready to go into the Pokeball? Oh, no! Wait, I need to give you a nickname!"

"Euch, why bother?" Jasmine asked. "Come on! Let's just get going! We've wasted enough time here!"

Nikki looked at Jasmine, then back at Numel and then her face broke into a wide grin. "All right, all right! I've thought of one! Her name is Etna!" she grinned proudly.

"Etna?" I frowned.

"Yeah! Like Mt Etna!"

I understood, but I still sighed. Nikki wasn't exactly endowed with originality when it came to nicknaming Pokemon…I mean, come on…Blaze for a Charmander? That was just as cliché as it was calling an Umbreon "Jet", for goodness sake. However, the newly christened Etna seemed to be happy enough and I hated to admit it, but it did seem to fit. With that, Nikki tapped Etna with her spare Pokeball and the Pokemon disappeared into the capsule with no struggle.

I found myself confused at this. "Hey…aren't all Pokemon supposed to be wild and…I don't know, totally opposed to capture?" I asked Nikki and Jasmine as we kept poking around the mouth of the volcano, but still finding nothing.

"Yeah, most of them are." Nikki nodded, for some reason scraping around in a bunch of soil. "But there are always exceptions. Some Pokemon just like human company. Like Etna."

Jasmine sighed. "Nikki, I don't know why you want such a simple Pokemon. They're pretty slow, it'll take you a long time to train that thing up. Somehow I don't think it's clever enough to do contests…"

"I don't really care," Nikki said, stopping to pat Blaze on the head when he happily ran up to her, squeaking. "It's not_ all_ about being strong or clever."

"She's right, you know." I grinned, crossing my arms. "Weren't you the one that told me when I caught Monty that I couldn't give up on him. That I had to work hard to "accept every Pokemon for who they are", hmm?"

Jasmine grumbled, not really knowing what to say. "I just don't really like Numels, okay."

"Well, that's fair enough," I said, turning around to look across the darkened skies, watching the far off twinkling skies. "I mean, I don't like Bug Pokemon, and that's a whole _type_, not just one breed."

"Hmm…" Jasmine murmured.

I laughed and I made to say something else, but suddenly the sounds of screams both human and Pokemon filled my ears. I turned around, but a solid, strong hand was suddenly around my mouth. I tried to scream and struggled uselessly against the strong grip. It was useless. The sounds of screaming and struggling ran loudly in my ears and in panic, I did the only thing I could. I bit down hard against my captor's hands. I heard a rough masculine yell and I managed to tear myself away, but I was blind with panic and I was caught again, hands scrabbling at my waist and arms. I felt a flash of pain across my lower neck and then the darkness clouded my vision and I knew no more.

* * *

**Authors' Note**

**Before I say anything, since I have now decided what Pokemon Sienna is going to own, please take a moment to vote on the new poll about a possible romance between Sienna and Elliot. Thank you very much! Also, here is a run-down of the teams: **

**Sienna: **_**Meloi the Mareep, Aurora the Spheal and Monty the Persian**_

**Elliot: _Jet the Umbreon and five unknown others._**

**Jasmine: _Skittle the Skitty, Heather the Bulbasaur, Mizu the Marrill, Sulphur the Cyndaquil, Terra the Sandshrew and Nightshade the Drowzee _**

**Nikki: _Blaze the Charmander, Dixie the Vulpix, Etna the Numel and an unknown Egg Pokemon_**

**Scott: _Ryhorn (unnamed) and Cubone (unnamed)_**

* * *

**I'm glad the filler's done. This is plot-plot-plot now!**

**I would like to thank all my readers/reviewers once more! Only 4 more reviews to the big 5-0! Eeek! I'm such a geek about stuff like that!**

**Anonymous: I have actually played the fourth generation games, but my expertise doesn't go much farther than that I'm afraid. Funnily enough though in my other Pokemon themed story Mai, the heroine, takes on a Luxray in one of the chapters...**

**AmpharosLover666: Scott will ONLY be back in the last few chapters, not before. He'll be there for the climax and the story's end. Eggy is hatching next chapter too, so that is a little bit more excitement for you!**

**WinterDahlia: Yeah, Monty can be cute. When he wants to be! Haha! And I think you and I are the only ones who will miss little Scottie...I'm glad you're enjoying the story.**

**Please read and review if you can!**


	24. Showdown at Mt Chimney Part I

It was hot.

That was the only thing I really knew as I slowly came back into consciousness, the darkness still stubbornly clinging to the corners of my vision. I could feel myself sitting on earthy ground, against something hard, probably a wall; my lower body was bent over, like I had fallen asleep sitting up. My neck hurt horribly and as I slowly gained control over my body again, I straightened my body up and rubbed my sore neck slowly.

Then it all came back in a flash!

"_Where the hell am I?_" I gasped, looking around the darkened surroundings I had suddenly found myself in. I could barely see my hand in front of my face but I couldn't mistake the fact I was in some sort of claustrophobic room, and I could see thick bars, like prison bars trapping me in. A pungent odour that I couldn't identify was hanging thick in the air and strange rumbling and gurgling sounds were echoing somewhere in the distance. The place was uncomfortably hot and humid my body was sticky with sweat and panic was slowly starting to rise. "_What the hell happened? Where am I?" _

I could remember standing looking out at the sky, looking at the stars. I could remember biting the hand that had clasped around my mouth. I remembered trying to run…but then after I experienced that terrible pain, everything after that was mostly a blank.

I tried to speak, but my voice came out as a croak. My eyes were slowly adjusting to the darkness and I could see very faint glimmers of light in the distance. Automatically, my hands reached to my belt for my Pokeballs, but they weren't there! In a panic, I realised my backpack was gone too!

"Oh, my God!" I gasped, feeling all around me, trying to see if I had simply dropped them or they had been dumped next to me, but I couldn't find anything!

"Sienna?"

A familiar voice jerked me back into my senses. I heard the telltale noise of a match being lit and a dull orange light emanated from somewhere across from where I was sitting. In the dim light, I could make out…Nikki?

"Nikki?" I gasped, staggering to my feet and running across to her.

"Hey, Sienna…" she grinned weakly as I collapsed to the ground. She was clutching her red and orange egg tightly to her like it was her last tie to the world. She too, seemed to be without Pokeballs or backpack.

"Nikki, what the _hell _is going on here? Where are our Pokemon! Our things? And more to the point, where's Jasmine?"

Nikki pointed across the room to show Jasmine sitting with her back against a wall. She was awake, thankfully, but she wouldn't make eye contact. Silent tears were running down her cheeks and when I looked closer, I noticed that her face and arms were covered in bloody sores and bruises.

"Oh my God…Jazz…" I ventured worriedly.

"Sh…she was roughed up pretty badly…" Nikki explained softly. "She was the only one who wasn't knocked out when those people grabbed us…you know Jasmine…she wasn't gonna take it lying down…"

I could only imagine…Jasmine _would_ have fought back; there was no doubt about it. Those injuries looked horrific…I couldn't imagine how much they hurt. What had they _done_ to her to cause such awful injuries? She must have been mercilessly beaten…either struck or slapped on the face to get her into submission…What monsters could have done that to a fifteen year old girl for goodness sake! Who _exactly _were we dealing with here?

"So…what's happening here exactly?"

"We don't know." Nikki said sadly. "But at least we know now where the people who are disappearing end up…"

That stung. I felt so guilty now._ I_ was the one who had been so insistent on going up the volcano, not Nikki and certainly not Jasmine. That meant it was _my _fault that we had been kidnapped and trapped in here, _my _fault that poor Jasmine had been beaten up... I cleared my throat, trying to push those guilty feelings away. They weren't going to help anyone, especially in this situation. "So…where are we?"

"Underground." Jasmine answered for me, her voice shaky.

I was going to ask how she knew but then I remembered that Jasmine was the only one who had stayed conscious throughout the whole ordeal. That meant she was the one who most likely knew what had happened when Nikki and I blacked out.

Jasmine swallowed. "They took us down right underneath the volcano…"

"How?" I asked her in shock.

She gave a tiny shrug of her shoulders. "Apparently there was some disused hideout hidden in Jagged Path that leads right underground…That's where they're keeping us."

"_How on earth could they have some kind of jail cell just conveniently stashed under here?" _I wondered to myself, but there were far more pressing questions to be answered.

"Why? Why are they doing this?" I demanded. "And where are the Pokemon?"

"They…they took all the Pokemon." Nikki whispered, sounding close to tears herself. "They've taken everyone's Pokemon; said they couldn't have anyone "escaping" and causing trouble for them…"

"So…they're gone?"

"Yeah…"

"No…" I whispered, feeling tears welling up in my eyes. "_This can't be happening! Meloi! Aurora! Monty! They've just taken them away? I…I'll never see them again!_" My head sunk into my hands. "_Oh God…this is horrible! I…I know I never wanted to be a Pokemon trainer…I knew that as soon as all this was finished with, I'd be the first one to drop the life of a trainer and get back to normality…but I can't lose Meloi, Aurora and Monty like this…they're my friends! I just…I just can't_!"

"We'll get them back, Sienna." I heard Jasmine say. "They can't keep us here forever. Once they've done whatever it is they need to do they'll let us go."

I looked up. "But who are "they", anyway?"

Jasmine shook her head. "I don't know…I didn't really get much of a chance to see their faces. They had funny masks on… I mean, If I didn't know better I'd say they were some kind of organization, like Team Rocket or Team Magma or something like that…It wouldn't surprise me to see that this was some kind of reformation of one of them…"

The names didn't mean much to me, but I got the gist. Some kind of undercover criminal organisation was at work here and I was willing to bet that, somehow, they were causing this whole thing. I was now almost certain they had been responsible for the eruption or perhaps an _explosion_, possibly, at Lavaridge now. They must have some kind of ulterior motive for it, and whatever it was, it was important enough that they had to _kidnap _anyone who came to investigate. Somehow, I knew I was right. I had had a feeling something had connected the eruption/explosion with the kidnapping, and I knew as well that it was somehow connected to the freak weather.

Even with all that, the strongest feeling I had was the one that told me that somehow, my father was very heavily involved in this. I made a decision right there and there. We had to bust out of this place and figure out what the _hell _was going on. But how could we? Our Pokemon and bags had been taken away, and we were trapped in what looked like a primitive cell with thick bars, only big enough to slip a hand through.

"_I've gotta think of something._" I told myself over and over again. "_There are people here besides me and the girls that need to escape too. Speaking of which…"_

"Hey…are the other people here too? You know, the others that disappeared?"

Nikki nodded. "The boy who came up here with his Slugma is in the cell opposite us. He doesn't speak much…but he seems okay though…"

"What about the researchers?"

"A few cells down, I think. They're pretty shaken…they've been here the longest after all."

"And the Gym Leader?"

Nikki shook her head. "She's the only one we haven't seen…"

I sighed and rubbed my sweaty face slowly. "You haven't tried to…you know, get out?"

"Believe me, we've tried." Nikki said. "We could never bend those bars; we'd need a really tough Pokemon to do that. We can't exactly slip through them either…"

"_This isn't looking promising._" I thought worriedly,

I looked at Jasmine. Her face was shiny with tears and blood. She had no way of stemming either flow…she looked helpless, a total shadow of the girl I knew. She couldn't help me. She could barely help herself. I looked across at Nikki who was hugging her egg so fiercely that she looked in danger of cracking the shell completely! She didn't look like she'd be much help either…

Wait. Hold on a minute here.

"Nikki?" I gasped. "Your egg?"

"What about my egg?" she shrieked in panic, suddenly holding it up for a vigorous inspection. "Is it okay?"

"No, no, it's fine but—" I could hardly believe my luck as I shuffled closer to her. "You still have it! Why didn't they take it like all the Pokemon and the Pokeballs?"

Nikki smiled shakily. "It's an egg, Sienna. What harm could it have done…?"

"Even still!"

"I know…" she stroked it lovingly. "I had to beg them and plead with them for ages…I had to convince them that if it didn't have someone to look after it when it hatched it would probably die from neglect…I guess even those monsters didn't want the death of a baby Pokemon on their conscience. Either that or they couldn't be bothered looking after it. I guess they knew that even if it hatched while I was in here, it couldn't exactly break out or cause any damage, eh?"

"No…" I sighed resignedly and slumped back against the wall. "I guess not."

I decided to try and ride this whole thing out, clinging to the vague hope that we would only be kept for a short time. However, we couldn't even measure the time! We had no way of knowing the time or knowing how long we had been down in the underground for…we didn't even know what time of day it was. It was pitch black in the holding cell apart from the tiny flicker of orange light coming from the lantern and there was no natural light coming in at all. The place was stuffy and horrible and I knew that the small candle we had been given wouldn't last forever. This was going to be torture.

I felt strangely disorientated, trapped underground, with no access to the outside world, no way of knowing what time of day it was or even _what _day it was. It was like being stuck in some bizarre limbo, a dream state…like a place where time forgot.

We had no contact with the others that had been trapped down underground like us apart from what we could shout across the darkened corridor, but we had to be careful. Men dressed all in strange black clothes would often patrol the corridors, but for whatever reason, they paid no attention to us. I was confused…if we were their prisoners, why did they ignore us? They rushed up and down the dank corridors, talking in hushed voices. I couldn't see their faces in the darkness; they seemed to hide their faces underneath strange black masks. Although I hadn't really been scared at the thought of being trapped underground, but now…seeing those faceless men, I'll admit I was scared. Those men looked like horrible brutes, all with strong broad builds and rough voices. I looked back at the horrible mess one of them had made of Jasmine's face and shuddered…

We were given food, mercifully, but it consisted of a mere bowl of rice and a pitcher of water, slid through the bars to prevent any kind of escape. We swallowed the rice down, barely even tasting it. The rice was horribly glutinous, but we forced it down with mouthfuls of water and at least it staved off the growing hunger.

At first, we tried a variety of things to try and pass the time, including playing I-Spy which didn't work past "b" for "bars" and "e" for "egg", so that was a disaster. We tried sleeping, but with no way of knowing what time it was, it felt strange. It could have been ten at night or four in the afternoon for all we knew.

Nikki wasn't much help in staving off the boredom; she was far too preoccupied with her egg. Ever since it had begun moving and making tiny sounds earlier on in the day, before we had even _left _for Mt Chimney, she had been even more obsessed with it. I could tell she was feeling the absence of her Pokemon, as we all rightly were, especially through the fact she had just _caught _a new one. I think she was compensating by being so attentive to her egg.

Whilst Nikki watched her egg and Jasmine sulked in the corner, I paced up and down the side of the cell. I lost count of how many times I tried in vain to squeeze my body through the bars, or try and bend them worth something. As you can imagine, it didn't have any effect. In the end, I ended up falling on my backside and staring out the slats of the cell.

All of a sudden, Jasmine started screaming. "Oh my God! Oh my God!"

"What? What?" I gasped, getting straight to my feet, terrified, as did Jasmine.

"M...my…my egg!" she babbled, holding the orange and red egg into the air. I could just see it shake in Nikki's clutched hands.

"Put it down!" Jasmine barked, perhaps a little too sharply.

Nikki set her egg down obediently and we crowded around it expectantly as it shook and wobbled on the ground. Then all of a sudden to my immense surprise, it seemed to glow a brilliant red from right inside the shell, then it slowly faded, returning to normal. For a moment, none of us did anything.

_Crack!_

A piece of shell was kicked out from the bottom of the egg, revealing two orange stumpy clawed feet. It was a strange thing to see, a huge egg with two feet sticking out of it. The thing squeaked noisily and then fell backwards, shattering the shell even more. Pieces of eggshell began flying off in all directions and then we caught sight of what looked like a wet red and yellow salamander with what looked like curly hair lying in the remnants of the shell.

"A Magby!" Nikki breathed out in awe, picking up the squirming baby Pokemon and nestling it close to her, despite the fact it was soaked with yucky egg goo. It squeaked and struggled at first, but then seemed to become complacent and nuzzled close into her. I watched in awe at this miracle of life, taking in every detail of this brand new, cute, baby Pokemon that had just been welcomed into the world.

I wished I had my Pokedex to try and identify the newly hatched Pokemon for myself, but Jasmine explained for me that it was the pre-evolution of Magmar. Admittedly, that was wasted on me as I didn't know exactly what a Magmar even _was_…I had to admit though as I watched the tiny Magby snuggle up to Nikki, it was kind of cute.

"Oooh, I can't wait to start training him!" Nikki grinned happily. "He's so cute he'll do fantastic in the Appeals in contests!"

"The what?" I frowned.

"Oh…um…" she looked a little sheepish as she attempted to explain. "Well, you know how I want to be a coordinator, right?"

"A co-what-inator?"

"A _coordinator_." She repeated. "Someone who takes part in Pokemon contests."

"Oh yeah," I remembered her talking about something similar when we had first me. "Isn't that where you show off how pretty the Pokemon's moves are instead of actually battling?"

"Well, yes and no." she grinned. "See, there's two rounds in a Pokemon Contest. The first one is Appeals, where trainers demonstrate how impressive their Pokemon's moves are. They get scored, and the people who have the highest scores go on to the second rounds, which is like a regular battle, but you still have to make your Pokemon look as stylish as possible. And everything's done on a point system too…it's really hard!"

"It sounds it," Jasmine said.

"Okaaay," I said slowly, attempting to get my head round this. It was a pretty difficult topic of conversation for me with my complete lack of Pokemon knowledge, and it sounded pretentious and as stuffy as hell, but at least it was better than sitting in silence. A halfway decent conversation promoted being trapped underground from "unbearable" to "tolerable". Admittedly though, I struggled to come up with an intelligent sounding question. "And this contest stuff… can anyone do this?"

"Well, not really. You need a contest pass, but they're pretty hard to get a hold of. That's why I wanted to come to Hoenn…to get one. Oh, but I've already been training Dixie and Blaze with their appeals and their entrances!" she added quickly, seeing my sceptical look. "I think they're actually pretty good…only thing is, I'm not a good battler…so…"

"Oh, so _that's _why Scott made us battle you back then!" Jasmine suddenly interjected.

"Yeah!" Nikki said, nodding fiercely. "I'm pretty good at the appeals…but I can barely battle worth anything…let alone look _stylish _when I battle." She let out a low sigh. "It's even harder for me as well cos I only have Fire Pokemon…Judges don't like seeing all the same things over and over."

"Well, you've got the Numel now!" I remembered. "She's part ground type!"

"Yeah…I guess you're right…" a little smile spread across Nikki's face. "And I've got my Magby too!" she laughed. "Maybe…maybe I can give it a shot after all!"

"That's the spirit!" I grinned happily.

"Uh, guys?" Jasmine's voice cut in. "This is all very well and good, but have you forgotten that we're _underground_! We're _never _gonna get out of here! We're just gonna be trapped under here and left to rot!"

"Don't say that," I scolded her.

Jasmine blew a raspberry at me and sat back against the wall.

"Mag! Magby!" I turned around just in time to see Nikki's Magby squirm out of her grasp and toddle forwards a few paces on its stubby little legs. It had learned to walk pretty quickly, I thought admirably.

It sat down, looking around and contemplating something unseen, then clapped its clawed paws together, strangely reminding me of Aurora and then without warning, fired a series of small balls of flames from its mouth.

"What the hell?" I almost fell backwards in my shock as Nikki got up and grabbed her chuckling Magby and ushered him over to the other end of the room, her hand clasped over his mouth.

Jasmine was up and on her feet, immediately looking up and down the strange corridor to see if there was anyone coming. When she was satisfied we were safe, Nikki released her hand from the Magby's mouth, who clapped and chuckled cheerily, like the whole thing was a game.

Nikki held her Magby out in front of her, at arm's length. "Y…you know Ember?"

"Magby! Magby!" The Magby clapped its clawed paws together again, looking very pleased with himself.

"Wow…that's pretty cool!" Jasmine grinned. "Magbys shouldn't be _born _with that kind of attack. Its parents must have been strong to pass that level of attack to its offspring."

I was barely listening to them at this point. My mind was beginning to work overtime and I was slowly coming up with a plan. What kind of plan, I hear you ask? An escape plan of course! It had been a stroke of rare luck that Nikki had been allowed to keep her egg and an even bigger one that it had hatched into a powerful fire type…

Later on in the day, I watched intently as the people who came to give us food appeared. After Nikki begged the faceless men a little, they came back a bit later with some special food for Nikki's starving Magby. They actually came into the cell this time, dropping the larger bowl at Nikki's feet, her Magby diving into the bowl hungrily. All the time, I watched to see what they did with the keys. After unlocking the cell door, one man stepped inside and looked the door again from the inside. He kept the keys loosely in his hand whilst he stepped up to us. I grinned.

When he left and I was sure that there was no-one in earshot, I turned to Nikki. She was stroking her Magby slowly.

"Hey, Nikki?"

She looked at me. "Yeah…?"

"Um...do you reckon that Magby of yours would be able to use Ember on command?"

She looked at me as if I was crazy. "What?"

"I've got a plan," I winked at her.

"_If there was ever a situation that called for that old saying "So crazy it just might work" this must be it!_" I thought to myself as I told them my idea.

* * *

**Author's Note**

**Goodness...I'm surprised I managed to get this chapter out as quickly as I did...I've got a reading list for uni that's about ten miles long... Haha!**

**Well, I was so happy to get my 50th review! So fitting that my 50th review milestone comes from the amazing Syzdoth who was the FIRST person to ever review Spirited! Thank you so much, Syzdoth! (And seriously, anyone who hasn't read read Syzdoth's fic Feather Head, read it. It's awesome.)**

**Right, on to business. Thanks to all my lovely readers and reviewers! I know that up until now the fic has been mostly filler and the plot's been building up slowly and I thank everyone who is still reading for your patience and dedication, but I didn't want this fic to seem rushed or unsubstantial, so I wanted to wait and develop all the characters first before rushing headlong into the plot. **

**WinterDahila: Yes! A big cheer for plot (I can hear you all going "Finally!") I like Nikki's personality too, she's such a contrast to the other two girls! :)**

**AmpharosLover666: Sorry I made you wait so long to see the egg hatch. I hope it doesn't disappoint now...**

**Anonymous: I'm afraid the Numel is Nikki's. Sienna will be catching a Fire Pokemon of her own soon though (Not Torkoal, I'm afraid but you should know I considered it for a long time!) :) I'm sorry you don't like the name Monty, but I never really thought about comparing it to Monty Python, considering I'm a huge Python fan myself... I thought Persians = high class, Montgomery = posh/high class, thereby Monty was a good name! There will be some fourth generation Pokemon coming soon (especially in Elliot and Scott's teams) in the later chapters, all I ask is that you be patient. :)**

**Syzdoth: Don't worry, I had already considered that issue you brought up myself. After the conclusion of the Showdown at Mt Chimney arc this will be remedied and there will be a shake up concerning the number of characters and a return to a simpler method. **

**Anonymous: I know the fic is slow to start with, but I only did it for the reasons mentioned above. The plot is picking up now and there should be very little, if any, filler in the future.**

**The Warrior of Many Faces: Awesome to have you back! :) You seem to be really good at guessing all the stuff that's going on; but there still is a little twist in the tale, just to keep things fresh! I'm glad you enjoyed the filler and that I managed to catch you out a few times! :) **

**You all know the deal. Read and review if you can!**


	25. Showdown at Mt Chimney Part II

As you could probably expect, teaching Nikki's new Magby to use Ember on command was problematic to say the least. We had to time the training sessions exactly so that none of the faceless men caught us in the act and even then, progress was slow. Magby wasn't an attentive pupil and even I, with all my experience with Aurora, found it difficult to get the new baby Pokemon to listen to me. Sometimes he would go off on a tantrum, blowing fire like there was no tomorrow, other times he would stubbornly close his mouth and refuse to listen. Nikki was quickly at her wits' end. I had of course told both her and Jasmine about my plan to escape, and Nikki in particular was taking it hard, considering it was pretty much she and Magby who held the responsibility of escaping. Eventually Jasmine snapped, telling me my whole idea was stupid and too over-complicated and attempted to get Magby to simply burn down the metal bars that kept us trapped.

In Magby's fright at being grabbed so roughly by Jasmine, he did spit out a few flames in the direction of the metal bars in his panic, but it was pretty much useless. The flames licked at the metal, not even blackening it, let alone burn it right through.

"Urgh!" Jasmine screamed in frustration, practically throwing Magby back to Nikki. "This is impossible! I thought Magby's were supposed to be able to have flames hotter than over a thousand degrees Fahrenheit! He _should _be able to melt a stupid lump of metal!"

"But Jasmine…" Nikki sounded terrified at Jasmines outburst. "Magby's still only a baby…he's not gonna be that strong yet…"

"Well, how on earth are we supposed to get out of here?"

"Jasmine, calm down!" I stepped across to stand in front of her. "Stop yelling at Nikki and Magby! It's not _their _fault! Besides _you _were the one who said we'd get out of here eventually!"

"I can't stand another minute in this hellhole!" Jasmine was screaming now and she turned viciously on her heel and started rattling the barred door. "Oi! Let me out of here you bunch of idiots! You've held us down here long enough! You've got no right to keep us here!"

"Jasmine!" I gasped, trying to wrench her away from the bars. "Stop that! You're gonna ruin the whole plan!"

"I don't care!" she bellowed, fiercely attacking the bars of the door. "I've had enough of being locked in this _cage_! LET ME OUT!"

"Oh my God…" Nikki whispered as Jasmine's voice raised higher and higher and louder and louder until eventually two of the faceless men came running down the corridor, yelling loudly.

"Nikki! Come here!" I grabbed Nikki and Magby and dragged them closer towards the door and where Jasmine was rattling the bars loudly. "_My plan could still work!_" I thought desperately, still hoping.

"Shut up in there!" one of the men yelled at Nikki.

"No!" Nikki yelled back, just as loudly.

"Shut up kid or I'll come in there and give you a severe doing!"

I didn't know what a "severe doing" was exactly but I definitely didn't want to find out. Jasmine on the other hand held no fear.

"Bring it on!" Jasmine stuck her face, already a testament to the men's severe beating, right up against one of the faceless men. She didn't even care that now only a few metal bars were separating her and one of the huge, hulking powerful looking men.

"Ugh!" The man said in frustration, beating his massive fists against the metal bars. He turned to his partner. "Get in there and shut that kid up before Cal hears about this! He'll kill us if the prisoners get too rowdy!"

I stopped in my tracks. "Did…did he just say…?"

"_Shut that kid up before Cal hears about this_!"

A violent cold shudder reverberated through me. That one word chimed through my head over and over again. That one name that verified every suspicion, every thought, every reason I ever came on this stupid journey in the first place…

"Cal…" I whispered to myself.

Anger took hold of me then and the next few moments seemed to take an eternity to pass. Then again, when I look back on it now, I run through it in an intense blur.

The two faceless men banged open the door, the second one grabbing a struggling Jasmine, and the first one following him in, his keys loosely hanging from his hand. I saw those keys and knew exactly what I had to do. I knew from intently watching the men go about their business that those keys opened every cell on this corridor. I needed to get to those keys!

I lunged for them, but the man carrying the keys noticed me and grabbed my wrist and held me so hard I thought my wrist bones would shatter. I screamed in my outrage at being so stupid to get caught and tried to wrench myself away, but the man would not let go. At this point Jasmine had been pinned up against a wall and she couldn't get away either! I had no other choice now!

"Nikki!" I screamed. "Make Magby use Ember!"

"What?" She gasped.

"Make him use Ember!" I shouted, lunging for the set of keys in the man's hand. "Come on! Do it now while we've got these guys kept busy!"

"Urgh!" the other man shouted. "Yell for backup!"

The man holding me started yelling down the corridor. Panic gripped me and in desperation I started screaming again.

"Nikki! Either make Magby use Ember on these guys or get out of here yourself! But whatever it is, do it quick! Come on!"

A look of sheer terror passed across Nikki's face before a look of renewed determination appeared there. She grabbed Magby and came rushing up to us. The men who had come running in to apprehend us stopped dead as Nikki and the Magby appeared by our sides. You could practically see the wheels and cogs of their brains turning as they considered what would happen if they let either one of us go and lunge for Nikki instead.

Nikki let Magby drop to the ground. "N…now Magby! Use Ember!"

At that point, I prayed. I'm pretty sure Nikki prayed too. Prayed to some unseen God or force or heavenly entity that Magby would understand what Nikki wanted him to do and somehow pull it off…

"Mag?" I heard Magby say in confusion.

I almost cried at that point. Those keys were inches away from my reach, but I still couldn't grab them! What's worse, I could hear people far off in the distance thundering down the corridor, probably hearing the commotion!

"Magby, come on!" I screamed, still trying to wrench my arm away from the man and his vice like grip. "Use Em—"

"Shut up, kid!"

What happened next was totally unexpected for me. A huge fist slammed into my lower stomach, winding me, sending horrible flashes of pain through me, paralysing me. My whole body crumpled and I fell limply to the floor. Another cry of pain coming from my right told me that the same thing had happened to Jasmine. A moment later, I saw her crash to the ground, leaving the other man free to capture Nikki.

I heard Nikki scream as the other man closed in on her. I squeezed my eyes shut. I couldn't watch this happen right in front of me…

Then suddenly, I heard Magby's voice. He sounded angry!

"Mag! Magby!"

The next thing I knew, the room was suddenly ablaze with bright light and intense heat as Magby expelled a powerful blast of fire. I heard a rough, masculine scream as the fire licked at the man's body, sending him crashing to the ground, his clothes burned and singed, his skin rapidly blistering.

"You little bitch!" the other man yelled, lunging for Nikki but he met the same fate with another violent burst of fire from Magby. He too hit the ground hard, groaning and writhing in the earthy soil.

For a moment, the three of us girls stayed where we were, struck dumb with what had just happened. Then we snapped into action. I scrambled to my feet, niftily grabbed the keys that had fallen with the first man, whilst Nikki hauled Jasmine to her feet. Then we took Magby and made a break for it before the guys on the ground even knew what happened.

We made a quick detour across the corridor to the cells that contained the missing fourteen year old boy and the research scientists. We thundered down the darkened corridors, almost blinded with panic and adrenaline. We didn't stop to explain to the confused and somewhat frightened fourteen year old boy as I struggled with the lock of his cell. We got him out and then we started on the two bumbling researchers.

"There they are! Stop them!"

I cursed as I eventually got the two researchers loose. Three more huge masked men were running down towards us. No! This was not happening! We couldn't get caught now!

"MAGBY!"

We didn't have to worry. An impressive fire attack from Magby that was more of a light show than an actual attack meant that the seven of us could push through their bulk easily. It occurred to me as we ran down the corridor that we didn't have a clue where we were going and we still needed to find our Pokeballs!

We ran down the corridor until we eventually reached its end. There was a thin wooden door at the end of the corridor, but it was locked. Even Jasmine with all her strength couldn't push it open.

"Out of the way," the fourteen year old said and expertly kicked it open.

I think we all looked at him in surprise before we came to our senses and tore through the doorway.

We ended up in what looked like a makeshift meeting room. The room was quite large with an old wooden table in the centre, strewn with papers and writing supplies and there was a line of huge lockers in the right hand side of the room. The place was mercifully empty and as soon as we got in, the fourteen year old boy and one of the researchers got to work on barring the door with one of the steel chairs.

I stood there, my chest heaving with the effort. "Okay…we got out of there in one piece. Now what?"

"We need to get our Pokemon back." Jasmine said at once. "We'll never get out here alive unless we get them back!"

"Yeah, but where would they keep them?" the fourteen year old boy inquired.

"They could be anywhere." One of the researchers commented, pushing his smeared glasses further up his nose.

My eyes rested on the lockers that were pushed up against one of the walls. "What about those lockers there?" I asked.

Before the words even left my mouth totally, Jasmine had flown across the room and was now attempting to forcibly wrench open one of the metal locker doors. I didn't know if she simply hadn't noticed the combination lock on it or she just didn't care.

"Jasmine! That won't work!" I insisted, coming over to her. "We don't even know if the Pokemon are even in there!"

"Well it wouldn't hurt to look!" Jasmine said, compensating with another fierce tug to the locker door, somehow managing to yank the thing open. Damn that girl was strong!

We all crowded excitedly around the open locker. It was mostly empty apart from a tiny bag that I knew didn't belong to either myself, Jasmine or Nikki and a strange white and gold patterned Pokeball that wasn't one of ours either. However the fourteen year old boy let out a cry of delight and grabbed the Pokeball and the small backpack. He released whatever was in the Pokeball and out came a red slug like Pokemon. He yelled out "Slugma" happily and then reached down to embrace the motlten, slug like Pokemon but thought better of it when the hot lava on its body burned his hands.

"That proves it!" Jasmine cried, totally oblivious to the boy and his Slugma. "Our Pokeballs must be in there too!"

With that, all of us, the researchers included, started either pulling on the doors in desperation or trying to crack the codes on the combination locks. Nikki and the fourteen year old even resorted to using Magby and Slugma to burn through the locker material.

"Yes!" I grinned as I successfully cracked one of the locker combinations and managed to pull open the door, revealing a blue backpack and three Pokeballs. "Nikki!" I called. "I think these are yours!"

Nikki put down Magby for a moment and took what was rightfully hers. She released what was in each Pokeball and we sound found ourselves staring into the familiar faces of Blaze, Dixie and Etna. She almost cried with relief as she looked at her Pokemon, but quickly got herself back into the action. She got her Pokemon to work against the hard metal of the lockers. Within a few minutes, she had another couple open, either burned or scratched open. However, she had no luck finding anyone's Pokeballs.

Suddenly we heard banging on the door and it began to rattle and shake, loud angry yells coming from behind it. We all looked at each other in panic and then quickly threw ourselves back into trying to get the lockers open. With the help from the Pokemon we quickly found Jasmine's missing Pokeballs in another locker, but mine were still nowhere to be found with at least five more lockers to open.

And that door wasn't going to hold much longer.

"Just get out!" I yelled, gesturing towards the other door as the wood door began warping and cracking under the force the men were beating into it. I mean, come on, a fourteen year old boy managed to bust it open, it wasn't going to hold against three or four burly men beating it to death.

"Sienna, don't be stupid! We're not leaving without you!" Jasmine said, tearing into another locker and then yelled in delight as she came across my purple backpack and three Pokeballs.

She tossed them to me and without even a word all released Pokemon were recalled and we all tore off down the corridor again. Just in the nick of time too as no sooner than we got out of the room, we heard the door leading into the makeshift meeting room break and splinter, the men's yells and curses sounding suddenly closer and even more scary.

We pushed ourselves on until we finally reached the end of the corridor. Clamouring and shouting as we suddenly found ourselves at a door it took a great deal of fumbling before we eventually got it open. We all burst out the door, revealing what looked like another set of long winding corridors, but there was something different about them. There was a hot earthy smell hanging low in the air and these corridors looked like they had been dug into long tunnels right into the belly of the volcano. We didn't get enough of a chance to think about it. The people behind us were gaining on us and we could hear their loud yells as they got closer and closer.

So we ran. It was all we could do now. However, the constant running was now beginning to take its toll. The researchers were barely keeping up and my body was soaked right through with sweat as we tried to navigate our way through the twisting, turning caves. As we ran, we noticed an array of strange machines left out in the corridors beeping and showing all kinds of various data. We couldn't stop to look, even though it was something the researchers were probably very interested in.

Dark dank corridors gave way to staircases that led down into more corridors and they led into yet more corridors. We hoped that the endless twisting and winding of the route we had haphazardly taken had thrown off the people following us but when we stopped to rest momentarily, we heard them again just as loud as ever.

"Oh my God, do these people EVER give up!" Jasmine wheezed.

We broke into a run again. Blinded with fear and panic, I don't think any of us really knew where we were going. We pushed our way through corridor after corridor and then suddenly we found ourselves at a set of giant doors. We pulled the doors to open them, but they were heavy and difficult to move more than a couple of inches at a time. Our hopes were renewed however when we saw faint glimmers of light through the cracks and got our first breath of fresh air in what felt like years.

Eventually we managed to tug it open far enough to squeeze our bodies out and we found ourselves standing on Jagged Path. I let out a scream of relief, but we weren't out of the woods yet. Blinking in the harshness of the sun, we started to run down the rocky face, trying hard not to fall. However, we only managed a few metres down the perilous ascent before we heard the yells of the men who had been following us.

"Get them!" we heard them scream.

For a moment I was confused. What was going on? Who were they screaming at to "get" us? We ignored them and kept running until suddenly we caught sight of people battling further down the path. I couldn't make out their features but it looked like a group of about five or six of the masked men against a teenaged girl with bright flame red hair.

"That's the Gym Leader, Flannery!" the fourteen year old gasped.

"What? The one that was supposed to be captured with us?" I demanded.

The boy couldn't answer my question as one of the faceless men turned to us. I tensed as he motioned to some of his cronies and then they were running towards us, their Pokemon at their heels, looking almost intent on murder.

I calculated what the best course of action was almost immediately. Three big rough masked men were coming at us, but I had a feeling that Jasmine, Nikki and I were going to be enough to take them on. We couldn't risk the safety of that boy and the researchers. Flannery would just have to handle however many were challenging her. I reasoned that she should be perfectly capable; she was a Gym Leader after all.

"Listen to me," I turned to the fourteen year old boy and the two researchers. "You three, get out of here! Get down to the town and get help! Quickly!"

They looked at me, stunned before they eventually took off, dodging around the three faceless men effortlessly. They roared in outrage and sent out their Pokemon after them, three vicious looking Mightyenas, but I was quicker.

"Meloi! Use Cotton Spore!"

I threw my Pokeball, releasing Meloi. Quicker than a flash she sent out those puffy cotton balls that clung on to the Mightyenas' fur, slowing them down and almost stopping their movement altogether.

"Come on, you two!" I shouted at Jasmine and Nikki, startling them as the Mightyenas shook their bodies trying to shake loose the cotton spores. "Don't just stand there! We need to battle our way out!"

"Right!" They cried, their own hands flying for their own Pokeballs.

A few seconds later Heather and Blaze were released into the area alongside Meloi. The three faceless men laughed in glee at their admittedly puny looking foes, but I knew they shouldn't write them off so easily. Appearances are always deceiving.

However, just as I made to give my first orders to Meloi, a vicious shaking began rumbling under my feet, terrifying the Pokemon, making them whine and murmur in fear. Not just our Pokemon either. The Mightyenas' ears were flat against their heads and their tails were fiercely tucked between their legs as the whole place shook. It felt like the whole of the earth was being shaken by some unseen menace. I could barely even stand securely. It was insane. If I hadn't been so confused as to why suddenly it felt like we were in an earthquake zone I probably would have been terrified.

"Stop that whining!" One of the faceless men yelled at his terrified Pokemon, bringing me back into the present. "Now, use Bite!"

The Mightyena turned, intent on Meloi, but I wasn't backing down so easily.

"Counter it with Thundershock!" I ordered.

Meloi expertly dodged the attack and countered easily with a vicious bolt of electricity. The Mightyena took the attack dead on in the face and retracted sharply, whimpering loudly. The faceless man let out a yell of annoyance and the other two beside him called their Pokemon into battle.

Before anyone could do anything, there was a massive explosion that sounded from right inside the volcano. The whole place shook with the impact. Barrages of tiny rocks were suddenly raining down on us and I backed off, worriedly. I felt disorientated as my vision, shaken by the rumbling, phased in and out, everything a blur of colour. As it calmed, I looked down at my feet but I could see the earth shifting and cracking underneath me.

"_What the _hell _is going on?_"

"Look!" I heard Nikki scream from beside me.

I looked in the direction she was pointing in and my mouth dropped and my heart sunk in fear. Another explosion, this one even louder and closer than before saw the volcano begin to belch out thick plumes of ash. For a moment, nothing else happened. Then I saw a thin stream of molten lava slowly begin to dribble down from the mouth of the volcano.

I was so preoccupied with the sudden shaking of the terrain and the appearance of that lava that I didn't even notice one of the Mightyenas nail Meloi right across the stomach with a powerful Headbutt. Forcibly snapped back into my senses, I realised with a crushing sense of fear that we would now have to pretty much battle for our lives on a battlefield that was set against a rumbling volcano that looked set to blow any moment.

I looked from Nikki to Jasmine, recognising that same look of fear on their faces, and then back up to the volcano that was now dripping with molten magma. We had no choice! The only things standing in our way, preventing our only chances of escape were those trainers and their Pokemon. We had to beat them! We just had to!

The faceless man's words from earlier in the day sounded in my head again, refilling my tired body with a sudden jolt of energy and a fierce determination. "_Shut that kid up before Cal hears about this!_"

"_Yeah_," I thought to myself resolutely "_We've gotta beat them_! _Otherwise how am I supposed to give _him _a piece of my mind_?"

"Let's go for it, Meloi! Use Thundershock now!"

Jasmine quickly got in on the act. "Come on, Heather! Use Razor Leaf!"

"Blaze! Use Fire Spin!" Nikki ordered.

Forgive this cliché, overused saying but I have to say it. This was only the beginning. The battle may have just started, but the war…well… the war had only just begun.

* * *

**Author's Note**

**I know, a really quick update. I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing! Haha!**

**I'm having fun writing this Showdown Arc, that's probably why it's written so quickly! **

**Now to thank my lovely readers and reviewers! I was so happy to find that some readers who had never reviewed before took the courage to review! You have no idea how happy that makes me!**

**Anonymous: Issue with the Luxray is now fixed! I'm afraid though that Sienna doesn't catch a Torkoal, even though I considered it for a long time. And I'm afraid you didn't guess right about Elliot's Pokemon either. Elliot catches Pokemon of either solely Grass types or solely Dark types or dual Grass/Dark Pokemon. The only exception to this is his newly captured Tropius he got to stop relying on his brother's Dragonite. I was going to give him a Honchkrow but I didn't want to annoy Syzdoth by using all the same Pokemon she does...using the Tropius was probably bad enough, I didn't want to go stealing Murkrow/Honchkrow too!**

**WinterDahlia: *tear filled anime eyes* Thank you so much for your lovely review! I'm glad I surprised you with Magby. I actually thought it was obvious! Yeah, Sienna's father is very highly involved with a criminal organization, very similar to the likes of Team Rocket and Galactic. Keep reading for the twist in the tale though.**

**AmpharosLover666: Aww, your review made me laugh! :) Thank you so much, as always. Sienna will catch a new Pokemon in about 2-4 chapters from now. Don't worry, I don't really like Magmortars though... so Nikki's Magby won't evolve.**

**Tricytal: Awesome to get your very first review! And your review made me laugh too! That would have saved me so much trouble if it HAD been a Moltres egg, wouldn't it? Haha! :) Thank you, I love Magbys too! **

**Kai-chan94: Thank you for your first review too! I hope I was able to answer your questions sufficiently! **

**Shree: Another first time reviewer! Eeek, I feel spoiled! I'm so glad you like the story and don't worry, the suspense won't last for too long.**

**Gold forever: Yeah, Sienna sure is taking her time to capture a new Pokemon...Don't worry, within the next 2-4 chapters depending how long this arc takes, she will capture a new one. :)**

**Wow. Almost sixty reviews! I'm so happy! :)**

**Please read and review if you can! Reviews really do make this all worthwhile!**


	26. Showdown at Mt Chimney Part III

The battle raged fiercely on the side of the Jagged Pass whilst Mt Chimney grumbled and moaned ominously in the background. I stood with Jasmine and Nikki either side of me, my attention torn between the battle in front of us and the slow steady trickle of molten lava dribbling down from the mouth of the mountain. We didn't have a lot of time! That lava was picking up speed as it descended down the mountain and although it looked far away, if we dawdled down in Jagged Pass too long, we were pretty much risking our lives. We had to finish this battle and move as soon as possible! The only problem was that thick clouds of ash were falling on us, making it increasingly difficult to see and soon, to breathe.

"Come on, Meloi!" I urged as I started to cough. I could barely see through this thick gray haze, meaning I could barely see Meloi and the three Mightyena. I was practically stepping on eggshells. I didn't know where she was, where the Mightyena were or even where Blaze and Heather were either. Of course, it was a bitter irony none of us had a Flying Pokemon to even attempt to clear this ash.

_'Dammit! We're running out of time_!' I screamed inside my head as I took another desperate look at the volcano. The molten lava was oozing down the side and I could feel the heat from it even at the current distance. If we stayed around any longer we would…well, I couldn't even bear thinking about it!

"Meloi! Use Thundershock again!" I ordered, feeling the heavy ash force its way down my throat, clogging my airways, gagging me.

"Mareeeeepp!"

Thankfully I could just make out Meloi's Thundershock attack hit its mark, sending one of the Mightyena sprawling backwards. I don't think it got up again. A moment later, a well aimed Razor Leaf from Heather and a powerful Ember from Blaze sent the other two Mightyenas flying back into their trainers.

"Run for it!" I yelled as the three faceless men scrambled to their feet.

We didn't even have time to recall our Pokemon. Both Nikki and Jasmine simply grabbed Blaze and Heather whilst Meloi ran alongside me. We could barely see in the thick ash, and Jagged Pass was riddled with ledges and upright rocks, so we kept tripping, but we couldn't stop. I could smell something like sulphur and my breathing became fast and laboured as I tried to run, but my body was barely functioning now. My limbs burned with every step and it didn't help that we could barely see five feet in front of us.

"Look!" I heard Jasmine say as we managed to clamber further down Jagged Pass. "The Gym Leader!"

Squinting as we juddered to a halt in the middle of Jagged Pass, I could see the flame haired Gym Leader in a fierce battle with her large white fox Pokemon that I knew was a Ninetails. However the Ninetails was struggling against one of the faceless men's Pokemon. I think it was a Prinplup.

We found ourselves watching Flannery fighting against the last remaining faceless man. It was an amazing thing so see, the ferocious interplay between them. It was a fight full of clean, perfectly executed moves as the two Pokemon danced around each other, scoring hit after hit. But it was evident that Ninetails wasn't doing well at all against her water Pokemon foe. I swallowed hard as we saw the Prinplup gain the advantage and release blast after blast of water at Flannery's Ninetails. The Ninetails was howling with the pain at every successful hit, but it was not backing down!

"We've gotta help her!" I decided, taking off at a run towards her, Meloi at my heels. "Meloi! Use Thundershock on that Prinplup!"

Meloi's body started glowing blue and crackling with static. "Mareep-Ma!"

The look on Flannery's face was a total picture as the Prinplup was suddenly attacked out of the blue by Meloi's Thundershock. Although Meloi's attack was nowhere near powerful enough to take out the Prinplup completely, it allowed Flannery the advantage and the opportunity to execute the finishing move herself. The faceless man recalled his Pokemon and literally ran away screaming, giving us enough time to catch up to Flannery.

"Thanks, you kids really saved my neck!" She said gratefully.

'Kids?' I found myself thinking as I looked the young looking Gym Leader up and down. 'The cheek! She doesn't look any older than us!'

Flannery recalled Ninetails and let out a deep, exasperated sigh. She looked like she was in a similar state to us…ragged, worn down and anguished, maybe from a similar stint in captivity. I wanted to find out how she had escaped ahead of us, but she got there first. "But where did you come from?"

Jasmine opened her mouth to answer, but all of a sudden the place started shaking again. Nikki screeched and grabbed onto me as the ground began shifting and splitting underneath us. I looked up through the thick haze and saw deep plumes of smoke billowing up into the already heavy atmosphere.

"What the hell is going on here?" I heard Flannery yell above the noise.

Then just as she said that, there was another huge explosion! A huge chunk of rock was suddenly blasted from the top of the volcano! We all screamed and ducked as the giant hunk of rock crashed into Jagged Pass only a few meters away from where we were all standing. If we had been standing there…

"It's getting too dangerous! We have to run!" Flannery shouted.

We didn't need telling twice. We started to run, but suddenly another loud explosion and a vicious jolt underneath us sent us all flying to the ground. We shielded our heads as we felt lumps of rock rain down on us. I was vaguely aware of hearing people shouting. They sounded urgent and panicked, and as I looked to the side, I saw black boots running past us, kicking up the churned earth. I couldn't see the owners of the black boots but it didn't take a genius to figure out that they belonged to the faceless men. I couldn't quite distinguish what they were saying; their voices ran over each other in bursts and bellows so all I heard was an incoherent babble. So out of curiosity, I sat up and turned around to look for them.

Even in the thick ash cloud still hanging in the atmosphere I could see the faceless men running towards Mt Chimney again. I gaped in horror. They were practically running towards certain death! What were they doing that was so important those guys were risking their lives for? I mean, I'll be honest and say I didn't like the guys at all –I hated them, but that didn't mean I wanted to see them killed…

"Why are they going back?" Nikki voiced my own concern.

"Don't know." Flannery said amidst a coughing fit. "Oh, hell… this is torture! We gotta get moving! Quickly! Hurry up!"

Flannery, Nikki and Jasmine took off immediately, followed by all the Pokemon. I hung back, just momentarily, to watch the faceless men for a bit longer. I could hear their conversations, now only taking place between two or three men at once, echo down Jagged Pass. One of them was shouting in panic and the urgency of his words made me pay attention. Then I heard something I never would have expected to hear and my whole body very quickly became paralyzed…

"Cal! Thank heavens you're here, sir!"

My mouth literally must have hit the floor. 'No…no! No way! Seriously?'

A deep, haunting voice, one I was all too familiar with was speaking now. "What have you bumbling fools done now?"

"I'm sorry, sir…we lost control of it!"

"I can see that! You fools! I hand you the latest technology on a silver plate and what do you do? You still manage to screw up the biggest opportunity we have seen since we started this whole operation!"

"No… no way!" I repeated, but this time out loud and shrill.

"And for Arceus's sake, do something about all this ash! It's doing my head in!"

"Yes, Sir! At once!

At his instruction, someone released a giant bird Pokemon that I recognised as a Pidgeot that started to blow away the majority of the thick ash with its powerful downy wings. I squinted, desperately scanning the ranks of people. To my surprise and for some reason most of them had removed their masks, revealing their faces. Not that it mattered to me. I knew exactly who I was looking for and could have identified them from body build alone if I had to. I looked over every single person there, surveying their features almost hungrily…

…and I locked eyes with my father.

A shudder of terror ran through me as I realised it was him. I had run his image so many times through my head lately I could barely believe it was _him_ in the flesh, standing so close to me. I rubbed my eyes at first and blinked, making sure it really was him. His image didn't fade even after I opened my eyes again. He was there! It _was _him!

He looked exactly the same as I remembered him, just maybe a little older. Red hair the exact same shade of mine kept in unkempt spikes, a broad, muscular build reflecting his years of training, and even though I couldn't see his face completely I knew his eyes would hold that same malicious glint in them they always did…

A flash of recognition passed over his body as he took a step back, his body language betraying any façade he could have ever hoped to keep up. I could feel his own eyes boring into mine and for just that moment, we were connected…

But then, at that point, anger took over me. My body seemed to act under a ferocious will of its own and I broke into a run up towards Jagged Path again. I didn't even care that the lava was now spilling out in huge gushes or the rumbling on the ground was so strong that I could barely put one foot in front of the other without almost falling over. All I knew was my rage. Burning rage. I had never felt anger like this before as I pushed my way up the Jagged Pass, never taking my eyes off him, and he never taking his eyes off me.

"SIENNA?" I heard someone bellow my name from behind me, but I ignored it. I didn't care. It didn't matter to me. Nothing mattered to me anymore.

Another explosion. This one much worse. Rocks began flying down to the ground, a huge one landing right in front of me. I shrieked in my panic and fell backwards, shuddering as I saw the huge bulk of the rock. I wondered in terror for just a brief moment at what would have happened if that thing had hit me. It would have squashed me no doubt…I would probably have been killed. This whole place right now was a death trap…

But that wasn't going to stop me.

I got to my feet again and started running again. I was getting closer and closer. My mind was a blur as I prepared myself for what I was going to do!

"YOU!" I screamed at him as I got within a close distance. I was so close it felt I could see every wrinkle, every freckle, and every _pore _on his face. It was a face I so dearly wanted to pummel until it was nothing more than a bloodied pulp…

And then I felt my body being uprooted. I felt clawed paws grasp me around my underarms and I was hoisted into the air. I kicked and screamed and looked up, seeing the eerie face of a Charizard. I twisted around trying to see, and then caught sight of Flannery straddling it.

"No!" I protested as Charizard began to hover higher into the air. I could see my father's figure grow smaller and smaller. "Put me down! Flannery! That's my father down there!"

"I don't care if it's the freakin' Queen of Egypt down there, we're going!"

"No! NO!" I screamed in protest, trying everything I could think of to shake myself free but the Charizard held me tight. I started screaming, my anger making me inconsolable and I struggled even though I knew I couldn't get away.

Another loud explosion from nearby sent rocks raining down on us, some of them narrowly missing Charizard, Flannery and I. Charizard bayed in fright and started flapping his giant wings harder and faster. As we gathered speed and started to turn, I craned my neck desperately to catch another sight of _him._ He was standing there, the lone figure, all the other men either running back inside the hideout or making their escape down the Jagged Path. I could not describe the look on his face…nor identify what emotion was there…but then, it did not matter. I lost his image as the grey ash clouded him over and Flannery's Charizard turned and swept down Jagged Pass.

We touched down briefly on the ground, but Charizard was not ordered to release me. By this time I had tears of frustration dripping down my cheeks and I was still screaming, my throat raw and burning. "I have to go back! That's my dad there! I have to—"

"Your _dad _is there?" both Nikki and Jasmine gasped, knowing all too well the seriousness of what I had just said.

"Enough!" Flannery bellowed as Jasmine and Nikki started clamouring o know more. "Look! That volcano is seconds away from blowing! We've _got _to get out of here!"

She was right. Lava was now gushing out of Mt Chimney. It had even hit Jagged Pass. All the local Pokemon were squealing, trying to get away as the surrounding greenery burned and rocks and ledges were swallowed up by the thick bubbling mass of red hot lava. My heart sank…

"Everyone on Charizard's back! NOW!"

I still don't know to this day how Charizard managed to support the weight of three teenage girls on his back, one in his arms and three Pokemon, but mercifully he did. Within a few seconds of Nikki, Jasmine and the Pokemon clambering on to his back, he had lifted off into the air. Albeit, he travelled somewhat slower than normal, but that was to be expected.

I still craned my neck to try and see Mt Chimney in the distance, but I could barely see around Charizard's massive orange body. Then suddenly, an explosion, far bigger than anything we had seen or heard up to then blasted away in the background. The impact and the violent rushing winds that came with it even knocked Charizard off course, twisting him around in midair so we all ended up facing Mt Chimney again. Then I saw something that still haunts my mind to this day. A sight so impressive, so terrifying, so awe-inspiring that I will never forget it as long as I live.

Mt Chimney was there with half of its peak blown off. Lava was spilling down its side, like it was an open wound, burning everything in its path. Smoke and ash were billowing furiously out of it, polluting the air all around us. Rocks were crumbling down to the bottom, the noise so loud I could barely hear anything else.

That was the day I saw Groudon.

The legendary Pokemon appeared to us only briefly, its giant red body emerging slowly from the molten lava in the mouth of the volcano. It roared, and in correspondence with its roar, I heard and saw tremors reverberate through the ground bellow us, splitting the earth and allowing the giant cracks to be filled with the streaming lava. Another vicious roar and then huge cracks appeared in Jagged Pass, kicking up thick, impassable ledges and creating wide gorges. We all watched in horror and in awe as the area of the hideout in Jagged Pass began to collapse from the inside!

"Is…is Groudon doing this!" I asked to no-one in particular, my eyes drawn to the huge red body of the Groudon. I could barely believe I was seeing this Pokemon…this thing that was literally like a legend in a story book come alive right in front of me. As I watched it, I wished I knew what it was thinking… I wished I knew what was going on…What had caused this Groudon to suddenly rear up out of the volcano like this!

I heard shouts and screams and as I looked down, I saw what looked like hundreds of men making their escape, often on the backs of Flying Pokemon as the Jagged Pass was flooded with molten lava. The only thing I couldn't see…was my father himself.

Then the entrance to Jagged Pass merely crumbled away, huge boulders and rocks falling from high up the volcano to right in front of it, blocking it completely from the outside. Then a thin stream of lava that fell from the mouth combined with the rocks creating a strange kind of welding effect, sealing off the entrance. Not only that, the route up towards Jagged Pass was completely inaccessible on foot now. It was like Groudon had raised the earth straight up into huge ridges and rocky outcrops to prevent anyone getting close to it. At that point, I understood. Groudon _had _done this. He had stopped anyone getting near the place on purpose. This volcano, this Mt Chimney, must have been its home…he was only protecting his home…

The Groudon suddenly turned and its huge eyes suddenly were focused on us. We all froze.

"That things staring at us…" Jasmine murmured.

"It's…it's gonna kill us…isn't it?" I heard Nikki say, sounding petrified.

Th Groudon cast his eyes over us one more time, as if sizing us up. Then for no reason, he turned around as if we weren't worth his time. He surveyed the area slowly as if inspecting his work. He seemed satisfied and then melted back into the lava as quickly as he had come, leaving virtually no trace to the unknowing eye that he had ever been there.

For a moment none of us spoke or moved. I think we were all in shock.

"All right…" I heard Flannery speak above me. "Rule number one when we get back to Lavaridge, yeah? No-one and I mean _no-one _lets on that we just saw Groudon. Understood?"

"Understood…" Jasmine, Nikki and I said in an awed croak.

Although our most worrying threat, Groudon, was gone, we still weren't out of the woods yet. Lava was still spilling out of the volcano's mouth and the ground beneath us was still shaking. If the volcano was simply allowed to keep belching out lava, it would cause even more destruction! Possibly even death! We couldn't allow that to happen!

"It's okay!" Flannery called from above me, as if she could read my mind. "We've got teams in Lavaridge and other towns and cities all set to deal with these things! Don't worry; everything will be fine!"

Even as she said that, I caught sight of huge bird like Pokemon go zipping past us, trainers adorning their backs. Some were Pokemon I could identify, like Pidgeot and Skarmony, but some I didn't know at all. We watched as what looked like hundreds of these Pokemon descended in and around the Mt Chimney area. Trainers effortlessly leaped off the backs of their Flying type Pokemon and began releasing more Pokemon, all of the Water, Rock and Ground types as far as I could identify. The Pokemon began using a variety of moves to try and stop the lava in its path, including spraying it with powerful gushes of water to harden it and shoving rocks and earth over it. We watched as a few brave trainers leapt right up to the top of the volcano, trying to stop it at is first point of origin. Within a few minutes, we were already seeing positive results.

"There's nothing more we can do here," I heard Flannery say. "Let's go back,"

"But…my father…"

"He'll be long gone," Flannery said firmly. "Long gone."

I took one last look at those trainers and their Pokemon battling desperately against the spread of lava on the still viciously shaking ground. They were doing everything they could to protect the natural environment and Lavaridge Town from further devastation. I let out a long sigh. My anger had vanished completely now.

My head was still reeling from all the incredible things I had seen…Terrifying, horrible, incredible things. I still didn't know what was going on exactly, but at least part of my suspicions had been confirmed. My father _was _involved. I had seen him with my own two eyes. But what was he doing here? What was his goal? Did it have anything to do with that Groudon that lived in Mt Chimney…? My mind rattled with these thoughts all the way back to Lavaridge.

We touched down in a scene of total devastation.

Lavaridge Town was almost practically destroyed. Buildings had caved in, there were huge rips and splits in the earth, trees had fallen and lay strewn across the ground and even amongst the ever-present rumbling of the earth beneath us, all I could hear were the sounds of people crying. Fathers yelled to get their families to safety, mothers wept as they saw their homes and belongings destroyed and children howled in their fright as they were pulled from the debris and I could hear the cries of Pokemon too. All this consolidated in a heart-rending wail of sadness and suddenly all the problems I had suddenly seemed so tiny.

"We've got to help these people!" Flannery yelled.

We all threw ourselves in to helping the local families. It was a difficult ordeal to begin with, but with the addition of the fierce shaking underneath my feet, it was almost impossible. With the help though of Flannery's Pokemon and Heather who took full advantage of her handy vines that all Bulbasaurs were renowned for, we were able to handle most of the rescues we were needed for.

Until disaster struck.

"Guys!" I heard Nikki scream. "I need your help!"

I looked from where I was standing to see Nikki perched perilously on a heap of rubble and debris, the remnants of what was once somebody's home, trying desperately to help a trapped child clamber out from the wreckage.

I saw what was going to happen before even Nikki did. But I couldn't move quick enough to make a difference. Everything seemed to move in slow motion as I saw the topmost pile of wood wobble and shift and then suddenly it fell…

Right on top of Nikki.

"Nikki!" I screamed, taking off at a run towards her. I could see the tips of her fingers emerging from the rubble, but nothing more. I dropped down to my knees and begun pulling anything I could off her, beams of wood, stones, anything I could. "I need help here!" I screamed.

Within a few seconds I had assistance, including several trainers and their strong Machokes and Gravellers that had arrived from nowhere. We grabbed and pulled and heaved until eventually we unearthed Nikki and the child. We got to the child first. She was unconscious, but she didn't seem to have any physical signs of injury on her. We got her out and handed her over to her father before we eventually got to Nikki. She was conscious, just, but she was bleeding badly from wounds on her face, arms, everywhere her skin was exposed. We tried to pull her out, but she screamed in pain and then we noticed why. Her leg was caught under a huge slab of rock and judging from the look of it as we managed to push the rock off, it was broken. It took me and Jasmine as well as a couple of the other trainers to get her out safely.

As we got Nikki upright and got ready to escort her to a safer place, we noticed something. It had stopped shaking. The earthquake had stopped!

"It's…stopped shaking!" Nikki gasped between moans of pain.

"Looks like it…" I murmured in awe as everything returned to an eerie state of calm. Even the screaming people had stopped in their tracks as the suddenness of the calm hit them properly.

Snapping back into my senses, I turned to Jasmine. "We've gotta get Nikki to safety. She needs to get that leg seen to."

"Right!" Jasmine said, and between us we shouldered Nikki between us and took her to the only place we could. The Pokemon Centre.

Somehow, thankfully the Pokemon Centre was one of the few buildings that had managed to withstand the might of the earthquake. We managed to get in and found the place in panic. Chanseys and Blisseys were running around attending to people and Pokemon with minor injuries but as soon as the Nurse Joy caught sight of Nikki, she came immediately to our side to look at her. At first, the Nurse Joy looked shocked to see us and but after seeing Nikki was in pain, she quickly called on some Chanseys to come and help her with her official, calm demeanor. With that, Nikki was escorted into a back room for the Nurse Joy to work on her, who assured us that Nikki was going to be just fine.

Jasmine and I were left behind, reeling. For a moment neither of us could even say anything, just look at each other, before we simultaneously collapsed into a sofa.

"Okay…" Jasmine said slowly as we sunk into the first comfortable seat we had had in what felt like weeks. "What the hell just happened?"

"Well, we got captured, held underground, escaped by the skin of our teeth, had a battle on an exploding volcano, saw Groudon, got caught in an earthquake…" I rattled off a long list of things, finally realizing the finality and seriousness of the whole situation. "And…and I saw my dad…"

"Yeah, I meant to ask you about that." Jasmine's voice was low and concerned as she turned to look at me. In the bright light of the Pokemon center, I saw just how horrible her injuries looked... Her pretty face was crusted over with blood and huge angry red welts and sickly looking purple bruises were dotted all over her face and arms and shoulders.

I visibly shuddered, trying to get my attention back. I thought of my father's face, remembering that strange look that had crossed his face when the two of us made eye contact. "I…I saw him there…I mean, I knew he was there anyway…"

"Oh," Jasmine thought she understood. "You had a hunch?"

"No…not really." I admitted. "One of the grunts mentioned his name…"

"They did?"

"Yeah. Didn't you hear them in the cell? One of them mentioned a "Cal". That's the name of my father."

Jasmine thought about it. "...No. I didn't hear that."

"Well, you were kinda screaming your head off in there when it happened…"

"Yeah," Jasmine murmured, stroking Heather who had curled up on her lap now. "I kinda freaked out in there."

"Hey, don't be sorry. You ended up getting us out, after all."

Jasmine managed a weak smile, drew back and let out a long sigh. She turned to me again, looking me intently in the eye. When she spoke, she had lowered her voice completely so that no-one would overhear. "Do you think… he had anything to do with that Groudon?"

"I'm certain." I said at once. "Before I actually saw him, I heard one of his men say to him 'We lost control of it'…"

"Lost control?" Jasmine wrinkled her nose. "That sounds like they were trying to capture it or something like that."

"Yeah, I know... I mean, I don't have any solid evidence… but that's enough for me… and plus, he seems to be the head of that whole organization of people… I know for a fact now he's involved…"

"So where is he now? Did you see?"

I shrugged and sighed sadly. "I… I don't know. He just seemed to disappear… maybe he escaped…maybe he was burnt alive by the lava, though I doubt that…"

"So, what are you gonna do?"

For a moment the tail end of the rage I had felt on the Jagged Pass returned to me and I fumed silently. He had been so close to me on Jagged Pass… I could have had him! Hate filled me as I thought of his face, his eyes fixed on mine –like they were boring into my skull. I didn't know exactly what purpose the group he appeared to lead had with the Groudon that lived in Mt Chimney, but I knew whatever it was was sinister and threatening and he needed to be stopped!

Questions still remained though. Had the first explosions at Mt Chimney been down to them? Maybe I was jumping to conclusions here, but if they really were after Groudon to capture it, and if it really slept in the bottom of Mt Chimney like legend said so…did those people attempt to simply _blast _it out? Could that be the answer? Were those first explosions that everyone mistook for an eruption really my dad and his people trying to blast the Groudon out? What's more, was the strange weather attributed to them too? I was pretty sure the answer for those questions was a firm 'yes'. However, there was a more pressing matter I had to think about.

Where was my mother? This whole strange criminal organization seeming to want to capture a legendary Pokemon and almost causing a huge volcanic eruption and devastating Lavaridge Town with earthquakes just reeked of her 'incident in Hoenn' she had wrote about in her note. Where was she?

"Sienna?"

I realized at this point that I had totally ignored Jasmine. "Uh, sorry. I was just thinking about…stuff."

"I'll bet." She said with as much of an upbeat nature as possible. "You never answered me though. What are you gonna do about your dad?"

"Simple," I said firmly. "I'm gonna go after him again. And again if I need to, I'm gonna keep going after him until I find him. You can count on that."

* * *

**Author's Note**

**And thus concludes the Showdown at Mt Chimney Arc with an extra long chapter! I tried to make it as exciting and interesting as possible because everything changes now!**

**And I have a LOT of people to thank for this chapter, bear with me here and I'll try and get through everyone. :D**

**K. A. Pyrde: It's a small world, eh? Thank you so much for your first review and such a detailed one at that. I had worried that the people were lacking in character a bit, but I hope that it's been remedied! Your fic is awesome too, I'm addicted to it!**

**WinterDahlia: Don't get used to the quick updates...the story is getting increasingly harder to write now. Thanks for reviewing again!**

**Kai-chan94: Like I said, it's no bother. I'm happy to answer any and all questions readers have. Battle scenes ARE fun to write, aren't they?**

**Daniel 'Chiryu' Ernston: Another first time reviewer! :D Thank you for pointing out that little typo and for responding so well to the prologue. Also, the thing with the stats and levels won't be that prominent from now on, so it should be all right! :) I was only worried about it being filler cos well...I'm a little paranoid that I'll lose readers if the story doesn't seem engaging or the plot doesn't advance quickly.**

**Splashstorm: Yet another first time reviewer! Your review made me really happy! I am trying to introduce as many unusual Pokemon or lesser used Pokemon (Persian, Spheal) etc. Thank you so much! You made me so happy! :D**

**Ampharoslover666: You, my friend are awesome. I always look forward to getting your reviews! They make me so happy! :D I'm so glad you're still reading and reviewing so far into the story! :)**

**Syzdoth: Yeah, I finally got into the exciting chapters, eh? Haha! Writing Sienna now is gonna be a challenge as she's a little different from who she used to be, but I'm eager to show a different side of her to all of my readers! P.S Your fic rocks! **

**Crukix: ANOTHER first time reviewer! I actually feel spoiled! Oh, I put a team list in Chapter 23 so you can remind yourself who has what Pokemon and I'll try to drop some more hints as to the identities of the Pokemon that are being referred to, okay? :D Thank you very much! Haha! I based Monty after my own cat Misty, actually! :D Trivia! :D**

**Anonymous: No, no, I like it when you guess! :D I did consider Leafeon but I wasn't comfortable giving Elliot two Eeveeloutions since he already HAS Umbreon. Hmm...nicknames for a Noctowl and Meganium? I can't think of any off the top of my head...what about Hedwig or Albusfor the Noctowl ? (Harry Potter references here! Haha) I'll get back to you though if I think of any or my lovely readers think of any.**

**The Warrior of Many Faces: You and your guessing. You're always on the money! :D To answer your questions, since I won't get a chance to explain this in the story, Flannery didn't get captured, she infiltrated the hideout after she went snooping around looking for the missing people. Then she tried to shut it down from the inside, but it didn't go so well. I changed that little thing in the last chapter about the Slugma, I went back and read through it and was like "Oh my God, I'm an idiot!" *facepalm***

**Chalcodes: Hee hee! Another first timer! :D I've been chatting to you a lot and you know I freakin' love ya so I don't need to gush in the Author's Note. :D Thank you so much for your kind review and your kinder messages! :D**

**Dodectron: Another first time reviewer! I'm glad you like the story so much and I can confirm that there WILL be more legendaries in this story's future just not in the way you may think. :D**

**Wow. I can't believe how many people reviewed these past few days! You're all so brilliant!**

**Read and review please if you wish!**


	27. Who's to Blame?

From what we had gathered, four days had passed since the day we had been captured. The number sounded strangely huge as days to have been trapped underground for…but at the same time it felt small too. After seeing to Nikki the Nurse Joy took time out of her busy, hectic job to speak to me and Jasmine privately, saying she had been so worried about us. Whilst we relayed a, somewhat edited, story to her, we inadvertently attracted the attention of the local media…

We had been standing there with Nurse Joy just talking to her when we were vaguely aware of two people standing close to us, listening to our conversation but we just ignored them. As I began telling the story, starting off with us being captured and being kept underground, I suddenly found a reporter in my face and a camera turned on me.

I recognised the reporter as the one that had been covering the eruption at Lavaridge. Within moments she had stuffed a microphone at myself and Jasmine. "Would you consent to giving an interview?"

"I…uh…what?" I gabbled uselessly, suddenly terrified in the face of the imposing looking camera and the huge microphone.

"Excellent, lovely!" she grinned happily, turning to her cameraman and giving him a quick thumbs up. "All right we're rolling."

"Eh?" I gasped. If I hadn't been so stunned I probably would have bolted.

"I'm here in Lavaridge Town with two young trainers who are witnesses to the explosion at Mt Chimney and who also claim to be the victim of the kidnapping plot we reported to you about a few days earlier." She turned to us and I'm pretty sure my mouth dropped in shock. "Why don't you tell us about your ordeal?"

"Well…" Jasmine stammered uncertainly. "Umm…"

Used enough to reluctant speakers in her line of work, the reporter wasn't fazed and prompted us again. "Why don't you tell us how you ended up kidnapped?"

"Umm…" Jasmine couldn't get her words out.

"We went up to Mt Chimney!" I blurted out suddenly and the camera slowly turned on me. I recognised the error of my ways too late; now realising _I _was expected to speak to this crazy reporter. "Eh…emmm…" I murmured nervously at first, my mouth suddenly refusing to form coherent words, but then I managed to compose myself. I found if I focused on the interviewer rather than the camera it was less frightening. "Yeah…we went up to Mt Chimney…we had heard rumours about people disappearing and well…we wanted to see for ourselves…"

"And what happened when you went up there?"

I laughed humourlessly, mentally cringing at how stupid we had been. "We got caught of course. Someone sneaked up behind us…knocked me and my friend Nikki out. They didn't manage to knock Jasmine out though…"

"They didn't?" the interviewer turned to Jasmine again. "So, what happened to you?"

Jasmine seemed to get over her momentary shock and managed to speak properly to the woman. "Well…they knocked out Nikki and Sienna but they didn't manage to knock me out properly…but…they beat me up…" she indicated the bruises and sores all over her face. "I went kinda fuzzy for a while, but I knew that the people who knocked us out brought us down to Jagged Pass…they took us down into some kind of cave underground…I think it was some kind of old hideout and they locked us up down there…"

The interviewer looked a little bit shocked at this but managed to regain her own composure. "And how long were you down there?"

"About four days, I think." I answered after Jasmine hesitated.

"And how did you escape?"

"Total luck, really…" I said, scratching the back of my neck. "All our Pokemon and bags were taken off us, but our friend Nikki managed to keep hold of her Pokemon Egg…It hatched into a Magby."

"And how did that help your escape?" the woman was eager to know.

"Well, Jasmine managed to attract the attention of some of the guys who were patrolling the corridors and we got them into the cell they were holding us in. They had the keys with them and I knew that was our only chance of escape, but they grabbed me before I could get them…but then Nikki managed to get her Magby to use Ember on the guys that had us! We were able to knock them out, grab the keys, get loose and get the other guys out too!" I found myself getting quite animated and gabbling on a lot as I relayed the story.

"Other guys?"

"Yeah…there were two research scientists and a fourteen year old boy that had been captured, but we managed to get them out."

"How brave…" the interviewer said admiringly. "But surely you couldn't just walk out of the cave you described? Especially if there were people patrolling the corridors and you didn't have any Pokemon with you?"

"It was difficult," Jasmine interjected, finding her voice again. "We had to rely on Nikki's Magby to battle our way out past the men, but we did and we found our Pokeballs. They were hidden, but we found them. Then we managed to break out back into Jagged Pass."

"And then what happened?" She pressed us further.

"It was insane…" Jasmine said softly. "All of a sudden everything starting shaking like we were caught in an earthquake—"

"And then Mt Chimney started erupting!" I cut in quickly. "It started rumbling and then all this lava started coming out of it!"

"Yeah, and we were ambushed by another bunch of men with their Pokemon! We had to battle them in the middle of an erupting volcano!"

"We managed to beat them, but everything was shaking so badly that we could barely get away! We saw the Gym Leader Flannery too…"

"But wasn't the Gym Leader supposed to be captured too?" the interviewer asked.

"That's what we thought," I admitted. "But she wasn't…she was down there battling with more of the men…she must have escaped even before we did…"

"And then what happened?"

I looked at Jasmine. She looked at me. We had all agreed prior that no-one would give away any information about seeing Groudon and I still intended to keep that promise. If we told…who knows what kind of scandal we could create…

"It started getting really insane…even though the volcano was seconds away from blowing and the ground was cracking and splitting from the weird earthquake, all the men were going _back _into the hideout. I couldn't understand it at all…"

"So what did you do?"

I debated for a moment on whether or not I should tell them about the whole issue about my dad. But then I decided that my business should definitely not be plastered all over for the world to see so I eventually settled for "We just ran."

"Ran?" she sounded a little disappointed.

"Yeah," I tried to say with a little more conviction. "Well, _flew _really. Flannery got us to safety on the back of her Charizard. I mean, by the time we got past the men in our way, the volcano had already blown. It was too dangerous for us to be there."

"Oh, I see…" she said, sounding disappointed. "But what happened with the volcano?"

"Well, there were people going there with their really strong Water and Ground Pokemon," I said. "I think they have everything under control. Thank God…if that thing had been left alone, hundreds of people could have been killed."

"Right, right. So what happened when you got back to Lavaridge?

"Well it was still like we were caught in an earthquake…" Jasmine carried on for me when I let out a harassed sigh at the constant questioning. "The whole of Lavaridge was devastated by the earthquakes…all the houses had caved in; people were screaming…it was horrible. Our friend Nikki got trapped under all the rubble when we were trying to help some of the people and she got her leg broken…"

"So, all in all, a pretty terrifying experience for you?"

"You can say that again," I said with a chuckle.

"And you really have no idea why you were captured? Why you were held underground? What the objectives were of the men that held you?"

"Well…" I said slowly. "I don't know for sure…but I get the feeling that that volcano didn't erupt on its own. I think the men that caught us wanted to blow that volcano up on purpose…"

"On purpose?" she gasped. "Whatever makes you think that?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. Just a feeling…"

She blinked at me once, before she finally seemed to remember that she was doing an interview and it wasn't wise for the reporter to go blank in the middle of a discussion. "Well…um…thank you very much for your insight on the strange events that have been happening today." She turned back to the camera. "Who are the men that these girls claim to have kidnapped them? What do they seek at Mt Chimney? Could we be seeing a return of the sinister Team Magma? And whoever they are, are they really responsible for causing the earthquakes and eruption like this girl claims? This is Danielle O'Leary reporting from Lavaridge Town Pokemon Centre,"

"And we're out," the cameraman said officially, putting his camera down.

Danielle, the interview woman looked at me. "You kids…you're really serious about everything you say happened to you?"

"What? Of course we are!" I insisted.

"Just…it all sounds a little unbelievable." She said, crossing her arms like she was the expert on the matter.

"What do you know!" I found myself spitting at her. "You didn't go through what we went through! You weren't there! You don't _know _anything about it!"

"Sienna!" Jasmine said from next to me, sounding shocked.

"I don't care if it sounds "unbelievable" or not," I challenged the woman. "I know what happened and you don't. Jeez, if only you knew the half of it you'd understand."

"What?" she frowned at me in genuine confusion.

"Doesn't matter," I said bitterly, grabbing Jasmine by the wrist. "Come on Jasmine, let's get out of here. We need to take care of our Pokemon,"

"Uh?" Jasmine looked at me as if I was mad, but then let out a sigh. "Yeah...sure."

"You gonna explain to me what _that _was all about?"

"Sorry Jazz," I murmured softly as I handed over my Pokeballs to a Chansey that chirruped happily as it stowed them away under the desk along with Jasmine's. "I just couldn't stand there and answer all those questions when I couldn't say the truth…"

"It must be hard for you, huh?"

"Hah…you don't even know the half of it…" I said, running my hand through my sweaty hair. "You do not even know the _half _of it."

"You know…you _can _come and talk to me and Nikki about it, you know?"

"Jazz, because of me, we all got trapped underground for days, you got beaten up and Nikki ended up getting her leg broken. I think I've done enough without burdening you with anything else."

Those words came out before I even knew I was saying them. Jasmine's face creased into a frown, the injuries on her face looking even more apparent. I couldn't look at them without feeling a deep, ingrained sense of guilt. It clawed at me every time my eyes rested on her face. I cleared my throat and turned away.

"Sienna? You did _not _cause all that stuff to happen. It wasn't your fault I got beaten up. If anything it was _mine_. I was the one who insisted to go up to the volcano at night. If we had at least gone in the daytime like you wanted to, we might have seen the guys coming at us. And it definitely wasn't your fault Nikki got in an accident! That's all it was; an _accident_! I don't even know how you can blame yourself for that."

"Mmm…" I said noncommittally.

"I'm serious, Sienna. Don't blame yourself."

I didn't say anything. I didn't trust myself to. This _was _my fault. I was the one who wanted to go to the volcano therefore I was the one who had gotten us captured. And I was the one who couldn't warn Nikki or do more to save her when she was crushed under the building. I _wanted _to blame somebody else. But I couldn't. Deep down I knew it was my fault…it was my actions, my stupid ideas that had got us in all this trouble…I could project my blame onto my dad…that was easy to do. Too easy. It was harder though realising that it was _you _who was at fault. _You _who had practically risked the lives of your friends…

For once I couldn't use my dad as a scapegoat…

"Hey…you're thinking about your dad, aren't you?"

"Of course I am!" I snapped, making her jump. "I almost _had _him Jasmine! Don't you know how infuriating that is? I almost had him! He was so close I could practically smell him! He was there, Jasmine! He was there and I couldn't stop him! I know he's caught up with everything that was going on there! I mean, what is he playing at? All of a sudden after so many years I find out he's probably heading some big criminal organization trying to capture a _Groudon_! That's he probably responsible for trying to blow up a volcano? So yeah, I'm thinking about my dad, Jasmine. Is that okay?"

She looked at me for a long time. My rage that had flashed up so suddenly at the mention of the word "dad" slowly ebbed away as I looked at Jasmine, trying to determine what emotion was spreading across her face. I would have said at any other time the look on her face was sheer defiance, but I couldn't understand why she would look like that until tears began slipping down her face, and she wiped them away fiercely…

"Oh God, Jazz…" I murmured. "I am so sorry…I…I don't know what came over me…"

"It's okay," she sniffed. "I probably shouldn't have said anything…"

Without even thinking I gave Jasmine a hug in a vague attempt to cheer her up. "_What am I doing to these girls…?" _I thought to myself sadly. "_Jasmine's a crying, beaten, bloody mess and Nikki's just had half a building fall on her and she's got a broken leg…all because of me…Can I …can I really risk going after my dad again with them along with me? I know it's gonna be dangerous…will these two really be safe with me now_?"

"Hey guys?"

We both looked to see the Nurse Joy standing near us along with Nikki, standing up with the aid of crutches, her leg tightly bound in a cast.

"Nikki!" I gasped, momentarily forgetting about Jasmine.

"Are you okay?" Jasmine asked at the same time, also forgetting her own upset in a heartbeat.

"I'm okay," Nikki managed a weak grin, but her face was pale and ridden with beads of sweat from the effort of standing under her own power. Even the slightest movement of her body made her grimace in pain. Her suffering was so evident and my guilt burned in the depths of my soul as she limped forward slowly.

"Are you sure you're all right?" Jasmine fretted. "Do you feel faint? Do you need anything to eat or drink?"

"Really, Jasmine…don't fuss," Nikki said between winces of pain, fighting so hard to keep the unshed tears in her eyes from spilling. "The only thing I want is to maybe lie down for a while…?"

"Rest! Of course! That would be best!" Jasmine said at once, before turning to Nurse Joy. "Is our room still here? The one we had before all this happened?"

"Of course, yes. Allow me to help you," Nurse Joy said kindly.

Between them, Nurse Joy and Jasmine took Nikki and began to help her down to our room. I stayed behind, pretending to busy myself with collecting our Pokemon, but they weren't ready yet. As I stood there, the reporter who had interviewed us earlier came back in to the Pokemon Centre alongside her cameraman; obviously just back from filming out in the town. Pointedly ignoring the reporter, I went outside just out of curiosity to see how everyone was doing.

I immediately wished I hadn't.

"Oh God…" I murmured.

I saw destroyed buildings and churned up earth, people desperately trying to dig out what little belongings they had left, frightened children clutching onto their mothers or fathers howling and sobbing, Pokemon baying unhappily in the distance… It made my heart sore…I couldn't believe I was standing here…in this scene of total devastation.

"_This isn't right…_" I thought sadly looking at the scenes of grief, ruin and sorrow all around me. "_This kind of disaster doesn't happen to the places I stay in, the people near me…they happen to strangers on the news…not in places I know…_"

I looked up across at Mt Chimney. It was stoic, passionless, standing silently as if it had no care about what it had just caused. I fought a sudden urge to scream at it. I knew that the volcanic eruption wasn't down to the activities taking place inside the volcano itself… No, I was almost certain now that the first explosions had been caused by the people my dad worked for and anything subsequent was from the wrath of the Groudon. I found though it was easier to get angry at something you could physically see than store your anger away for something you may never be able to hold in your hands or see for yourself…

The emergency teams dispatched to Mt Chimney were beginning to land back in Lavaridge now and I watched them for a while. Many of them burst into tears at the sight of their hometown in ruins, but just as many looked as blank and as emotionless and as stoic as Mt Chimney in the background. They were the people who simply had become used to such ruin, maybe seeing it daily as part of their jobs. That's all this was to them… They began instructing their Pokemon to various tasks like they had been doing it all their lives. This was their job and nothing more to them. I wondered what it felt like to be used to seeing such horrible sights…I wondered what it felt like to be immune.

My rage burned. This was all the fault of my father and those people. If I was right, _they _had caused the explosions. _They _had made the Groudon so angry that it caused earthquakes and hurt these people. I bitterly wished I had known more…I wished I could have done more to stop them…

As the night drew in, I ate dinner but more because I was told to not for actual want. It was a hectic affair anyway…the Pokemon Centre had become the shelter for all those who had lost their homes and the place was very quickly overcrowded. To make it worse, people seemed to recognise me as someone who was at Mt Chimney when it began erupting and when all the earthquakes started, and were constantly pressing me for answers. I knew I shouldn't get snappy with them; these people had lost their homes for God's sake, but the fact that I still couldn't tell anyone the truth made me irritable and I couldn't stand to be near the crowds of people.

I collected the Pokeballs, newly healed, and decided to bring some food, both for Nikki and Jasmine and the Pokemon up to the room. I gathered everything up and made my way down to the room. As I hovered outside the door for a moment trying to get all the things balanced, I heard a muted conversation taking place between Nikki and Jasmine. I knew I shouldn't have, that it was dishonest and horrible but I ended up eavesdropping.

"—really freaked out by the whole thing, I think."

"O…of course…she would be…it's a big thing to find out her father is involved in this. She always said her dad was…"

"An ass?"

"Emm…well, that's not the word I would use, but…yeah. She always said her dad was an…"ass"" Nikki stumbled slightly over the minor expletive, her voice taking on an embarrassed edge. She never did like swearing and she never swore, not even baby swear words. "But this is on a whole different level…I mean; from what I can gather…they wanted to _capture _that Groudon."

"You know what else is strange though? She blames herself for _this_. These injuries. And for what happened to you too."

"What?" Nikki sounded confused and upset. "How could she blame herself for my injuries! It was a complete accident!"

"I don't know. But she does."

"_Of course I do…because it was my fault! I should never have dragged either of you into this! If…if this goes on like this…if I make you come with me after my father again…you'll end up getting hurt! I can't do that to you!_" I wanted to shout to them, but I bit the words back.

"She can't!" Nikki insisted and she sounded on the verge of tears. I fought the urge to cry too.

I listened for a few more minutes as the conversation slowly changed to how the poor people in Lavaridge were going to rebuild their town from practically nothing before I took the courage to bang on the door and in as cheery a voice as I could muster call out for help, that I came bearing gifts of food and Pokemon.

I tried to make the most of that evening. It was a strange sort of night spent in the company of friends, good food and Pokemon. Ideally, it should have been heaven. We laughed a lot especially when there were inevitable clashes between the Pokemon after they were let loose for the first time in days in some cases. However, we all got a bit teary when we managed to get a hold of Scott on the phone. Despite himself he had been worried sick about his sister when she hadn't answered her phone in four days, but he tried to pass it off with that macho bravado that all boys that age had and we all had a laugh as well as a little cry.

Like I said, we laughed a lot, but it was a strange atmosphere, like we were laughing in a forbidden place, like at a graveyard or a funeral. I was agitated all night, my guilt clawed at me, demanding attention when I tried to ignore it, my rage towards my father came and went in strange combinations…One minute I felt like crying, the next screaming…my whole head was a mishmash of emotions, like a badly tuned radio…too many thoughts coming in and out of my brain without permission.

I knew why though. I knew why I was feeling so depressed, so restless, so guilty. There was something very important I had to do. I had made a very difficult decision; one that I knew would work out the best and the safest for everyone.

As the night skies darkened and darkened and the loud hectic chaos eventually subsided, we all went to bed. While Jasmine helped Nikki undress and dress into her pyjamas, I slipped into my own bed not letting them see I was still fully dressed. They stayed up late talking and I joined in as much as I could, savouring each little giggle, each little anecdote, trying to commit them to memory. I took in every detail of how everyone looked, never wanting to forget…

They dropped off to sleep late. I gave them an extra half an hour to make sure they were properly asleep before I slipped out of bed, careful not to disturb either Nikki or Jasmine or their slumbering Pokemon.

I picked up my belongings, already packed, and did what I had to do.

"_Don't you dare cry_!" I told myself fiercely as I felt the threat of tears. "_You know what the problem is? You've done too much crying and not enough work! That's why you never found your dad and mum before this! You were an idiot and that's why Jasmine and Nikki got hurt! You can't expect them to put themselves in danger for you anymore. This…this is the best thing to do. It's easier this way._" I told myself over and over again. "_It's safer this way. This is the best option for everyone."_

As I slipped open the door a sudden thought entered my head and I chuckled humourlessly. _"This is the second time my life is going to be ruined by something as simple as a note_."

I took one last look at Nikki and Jasmine and sighed sadly.

Then I left.

* * *

**Author's Note**

**I was actually just downstairs fixing myself some toast to have as an evening snack when I suddenly realised I hadn't updated recently! Ooops! So here is Chapter 27 where from now on everything changes...Dramatic, eh?**

**Also, the very talented Chalcodes has drawn some concept art for this fic! The link is currently on my profile page! :D Please check it out!**

**Wow, just looking at the stats on my story I've realised just how incredibly blessed I am to have so many awesome readers and reviewers for this story! I can never thank any of you enough for taking the time out of your busy lives to read my little imaginings! :) Thank you all!**

**Chalcodes: You my friend are seriously awesome! (to anyone who hasn't, read Chalcodes' fic, it is really good and I recommend it!) Thank you so much for your kind words again!**

**WinterDahlia: Hee hee! Yeah, I kinda wanted the first part of the story to be quite obvious what Cal and his lot were up to, but hopefully I'll be able to catch you all out with a few (more) surprises! And yes, Sienna will catch a new Pokemon within the next few chapters. Anyone have any guesses?**

**Splashstorm: Yes, poor Nikki...it had to happen to her, didn't it? But she never wants to make a fuss. I do have SoulSilver but I've never traded over the internet before! Haha! I wouldn't have the first idea how to do it!**

**RunningWithWolves11: Nice to see you reviewing "Spirited" too! Haha! I'm kinda scared to find out which one you like better... **

**Dodectron: Yeah, it was kinda feel good. Kinda wanted a little uplift before the bombshell in this chapter! Oh my goodness, I inspired you to write your story? :) :) Thank you! That makes me feel so happy! :D A Chinchou? Emm...there wasn't one scheduled to show up, but maybe I can write one in...Hmm...*lightbulb***

**AmpharosLover666: Yeah, I had a total blast writing Flannery and I tried to make the most out of it cos she only appears in one chapter! Haha! Aww, I seriously love your reviews; they make me feel so warm and happy inside! :D And yes, poor Nikki...I felt so bad making her get hurt, she never did anything to deserve it! :(**

**Anonymous: I loved writing this arc. It was difficult and at times infuriating, but I'm glad it worked out okay. Haha! I'm really looking forward to introducing Elliot's kick ass team or Grass, Dark and Grass/Dark Pokemon in a few chapters! Emm, I'm not really a fan of Grass types, just like Sienna...which is weird considering one of the central characters has a team FULL of them...including Carnivine you'll be pleased to know. :D**

**Syzdoth: Awwwww! Your writing is awesome! I'm sure you don't have to be jealous of me, you are a fantastic writer! Your story is definitely my favourite out of all the Pokemon stories I've read! I love it! And thank you so much! :D**

**Y'all know the procedure. Please read and review if you can, okay? **


	28. Riding Solo

It was far easier sneaking out of the Pokemon Centre this time compared to the last time. The Centre was so busy even at that time in the morning with refugees and injured people that I could blend in with the crowd easily. I kept my head held high, my pace quick and light and strolled out of the Pokemon Centre as casually as one could at three o'clock in the morning.

I got out of the Pokemon Centre and the realisation and the finality of what I was going to do suddenly hit me. How would Nikki and Jasmine react when they saw I was gone when they woke up in the morning? The note I had left them was so brief…what would they do? Would they even know understand why I had gone, my reasons why I had to leave? Would they listen to my requests not to follow…or would they refuse to listen and come after me anyway?

For the first time I realised how my mother must have felt.

She must have felt so bad about leaving me. I understood now the pain you feel when you know you have to leave someone behind…It was a horrible feeling…you felt like you were abandoning them… All the same though, I knew that the pain couldn't stop me. I _had _to do this. I had to do this for the same reason Mum had to leave me behind. For their safety…

I knew this, but I still felt no better about it. I couldn't help but wonder again...wonder how they would feel when they woke up and saw I wasn't there. Would they be sad? Would they miss me? Would they be angry? Or would they feel some sense of relief…that I wouldn't be there to cause them any more grief? I didn't know…I wasn't even sure that I wanted to know…

I wondered how Meloi, Aurora and Monty would take it when I released them the next morning and they realised we wouldn't be travelling as part of a big pack anymore…I doubted if they even knew why they had been taken away from me for four days or knew anything about my dad and Groudon and all the earthquakes and volcanic eruptions…I didn't even know if they cared. Or even if they would understand when I told them…

"_Come on, Sienna._" I told myself as I looked up to the inky black sky above me. Stars twirled freely above me, winking and glittering, totally oblivious to my plight. "_This is for the best…It's far safer for everyone. I can't ask Nikki or Jasmine to come with me any further. I can't ask them to risk their lives chasing after _my _problems and _my _mess. No…I have to do this alone. I have to face this _alone!_"_

I made myself walk forward. The only thing was that I didn't know where I was going. The only legitimate place I could think of to go to was Mt Chimney, but I knew I couldn't go back there for obvious reasons, the place was in ruins…besides, the entrance to the hideout, the only place I _could _go to find answers, was sealed off. I didn't think my dad and his people would go _back _there anyway. That would be stupid considering everything that had happened. I had a feeling now that because they had seen just what that Pokemon was capable of, there was no way they would go back and try again…not after they'd seen the devastation and power that that Groudon was capable of…

I didn't know where to go. But I knew I had to go as far away as I possibly could. What was the point of me leaving Jasmine and Nikki behind for their safety if they could track me easily? I hoped that the note I left them would be enough to stop them from following me. I doubted it though. Considering how much my mother pleaded with me in her note not to follow her, I didn't pay a blind bit of notice and went after her anyway. I doubted a few lines of text would be enough to keep Jasmine and Nikki away…

I thought about what I had written in the note to them…

_Dear Nikki and Jasmine_

_I'm sorry, but I have to leave. _

_I can't risk your safety anymore. You've both been hurt too badly because of me; it would be unfair for you two to put yourselves at risk any longer. _

_Besides, I need to do this alone. This is my mess to deal with. I need to face my father and his actions by myself. Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. I just ask that you don't follow me._

_I need you both to stay where you are. You'll be safe in Lavaridge. Look after each other and keep each other safe. _

_All my love_

_Sienna_

It all sounded so disjointed, so trivial and stupid when I ran over the words of the note in my mind. I didn't know if it would be enough for Jasmine and Nikki to get the message not to follow. For a moment, I debated going back to rewrite the note, but then I realised I was only looking for an excuse to go back. I forced myself to push on.

I figured I had a couple of choices. I had done my research. I could head north through the desert to Fallarbor Town, go south back to Mauville, or see if the landslide had been cleared near Mauville and try and make my way to places like Lilycove and Fortree. I did some figuring and decided the best way to go was _back _the way I came. If it were me, and _I_ was tailing someone, the last place I would think to look was the places they had already been. With that decision, I made myself move forward.

With every step, my regret for this situation grew. With every step the threat of tears was made even worse. With every step, my urge and desire to run back only intensified. I hated doing this…and I hated knowing that it was the right thing to do.

A light from one of the few still standing buildings caught my eye and I stopped. I squinted at the sign hanging in front of the building and gasped. It was the Pokemon Mart!

"_That thing…is still standing_?" I thought in awe as I inspected the building for any signs of it being damaged in any way. From what I could see in the dim light it looked almost unblemished. "_Wow…it must be made of reinforced steel or something_."

A thought hit me. I didn't have any supplies of any sorts with me. All the few remaining Potions and healing things as well as most of my food and berries had been left in the room in either Jasmine or Nikki's bags! Thankfully, I had my purse with me and I still had quite a bit of money left. I'd have to stock up now. I knew that once I was out on the road on my own I couldn't draw too much attention to myself, so the best time to gather supplies would have to be now.

"_I hope this place is still open_…" I wondered to myself as I pushed the door open gingerly.

The bright, garish, colourful interior of the Pokemon Mart took me by surprise as I stepped inside. Even for an earthquake zone, the shelves adorning the Pokemon Mart were fully stocked, as if they'd never been touched. To my immense surprise, they were still open for business! A couple of customers were investigating the healing items at the end of the shop, not even fazed by the late hour. I looked at the people still staffing the counters in total surprise. One of them, an old woman, flashed me a big grin when she saw me.

"Oh? You're back, are you?"

"What…?" I asked, confused. "B…back?"

"Did you forget something?" the woman asked kindly.

I looked at her oddly. "_What is she on about? I was only here once, ages ago, and I definitely don't remember seeing her when I was here! Eh, she's an old lady. Maybe all teenage girls look the same to her…_"

I cleared my throat. "Umm, I'm sorry; I think you have me confused with someone else…"

She squinted at me, looking me up and down and then a look of embarrassment appeared on her face. "Oh, yes. Silly me! I _have_ mixed you up! I should have known really, you're much too young to be the same woman. But then again…" her eyes paused on my face for an uncomfortably long time. "You do look just like her."

"Really…?" I asked, humouring the silly old woman, wanting to move the whole thing along. I sidestepped casually to the side to start looking at the packs of Pokemon berries they stocked.

The woman babbled on blithely not even noticing my disinterest. "Indeed, yes. But oh, silly me! I can see it now. You really are too young. Your hair's a totally different colour too. Hers was a lovely browny blonde colour." She paused again, marvelling. "I can't believe how alike the two of you look though…"

My heart stopped. I practically dropped the bag of berries I had picked up to inspect. My mother had hair _exactly _like how that woman had described. All thoughts of shopping were immediately thrown to one side and I focused all my attentions on the old woman. "This…this woman…she didn't happen to tell you her name, did she?"

"Well, she didn't _tell _me her name exactly," the old woman smiled sheepishly as I quickly made my way up towards the counter. "But the man she was with called her by her name…oh, what was it now…?"

"Please!" I said without thinking. "This is important! You have to remember!"

The woman looked at me oddly but she didn't question why it was so important to me. "Well, if my memory serves me right…I think the man called her…Suzanne…"

I almost threw myself over the desk at the old woman in my disbelief. "Suzanne! You're _certain _it was Suzanne?"

"Well, yes, I think so." She said, looking a little shocked at my reaction.

"When? When was she here?"

"Oh, I can't remember exactly, my dear. My memory's not exactly what it used to be,"

"Please!" I begged the woman. "You _have _to remember. When did you see her? A week ago? Two weeks? When?"

"Oh, my dear, I saw her today."

"TODAY!"

The old woman blinked at me in surprise and she smiled. "My dear, I may be old, but I'm not quite deaf yet. There's no need to shout."

"I'm sorry!" I apologised quickly. "But this is very important! I need to know when _exactly _you saw this Suzanne woman."

The old woman sat back, trying to remember. I stood there, waiting, jittery, and impatient; my whole body ached with anticipation as I watched the old woman try to remember. When the apprehension almost had become too much to bear anymore, she eventually spoke again. "I think it couldn't have been too long after the earthquake stopped. We had just set up shop again because lots of people needed Potions and Revives and things… She came in with a lot of other people all dressed in blue, just like her. They bought a_ lot_ of supplies and then they left."

I drew back, my head reeling. "_No way… this is… Incredible…she was…she was here! She was so close all this time…_"

"Oh, wait…there was something else…" the woman recalled suddenly and I perked my head up to look at her. "A man that was with her said something to her and the rest of them about going to Sootopolis City."

"Sootopolis?"

"Yes." She nodded. "He said they were going to go to Sootopolis City, but from the way he was talking, it sounded like they weren't going to go there straight away."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, the man was talking like some kind of army general!" the old woman laughed to herself. "I did think it was odd. We don't get many military types around here. He said they would …now what was it he said…? Ah yes, "reconvene" in Sootopolis once "everything had a chance to calm down". Oh and he also said something strange about "they won't try again for a while"."

I was confused. "_Who _won't try to do _what_ againfor a while?"

"I don't know, dear. That's all I heard." She sounded apologetic. "Does that mean anything to you?"

"No. Not really," I admitted sadly.

"_I don't have a clue what this woman's talking about. Who are these people that she saw with _her…? _What did they mean about "not trying again in a while_"? Who _won't try _what _again in a while? Were they talking about themselves? Or someone else? And why Sootopolis? What's so special about there?"_

It felt to me, at least for the moment, that for every question I answered, several more would crop up! It was like I knew the answer now to "Where is my father?" The answer: "He was in Lavaridge". But the answers to "Was he really trying to capture Groudon and why?" and "Was he responsible for the explosions and the eruption?" and "Is he really mixed up in some criminal organization, and if so, who are they?" all remained unanswered. I had firm suspicions about the answers to those questions, but until I knew for sure…I couldn't jump to any rash conclusions.

"_But at least now I know where she's going. That means I can go there too! And if they won't be there for a while… maybe I can even get ahead of her!_"

"But, my dear…if I may ask, why are you so interested in this woman?"

A bitter smile tugged at the corner of my mouth and I looked the old woman square in the eyes. I found it difficult to push out the words "Heh…she's my mother."

* * *

I made it out of the Pokemon Mart without having to endure too many revealing questions from the old lady. I could tell she wanted to know why a fifteen year old girl was out wandering the town at three o'clock in the morning, and even more so the likely fascinating story behind my mother. I didn't tell her much. I _couldn't _tell her the truth, obviously! I made up some story about me and her not having a good relationship and I hadn't seen her in a long time, and that's why I was so surprised to hear her being mentioned. I don't think she bought that that was the whole story, however. I was quick to move things along as I was eager to leave now that I had all this new information. I quickly shoved a lot of essential supplies into my basket and almost cleaned out my purse paying for them, but I didn't care. I wanted to get out and get my thoughts together.

Realisation gripped me when I stepped outside and strange combinations of fear, excitement and sadness passed over me as I made the connection. My mum had been here! She had been so close to me without me even knowing. I couldn't help but wonder if she had been there, just like I was, when Groudon had appeared, when the volcano had blown, when the earthquakes hit… Most importantly…I wondered if she had seen Dad too.

I couldn't believe it…If that old woman had had her times right, my mum had been in Lavaridge Town just seconds after the shaking had stopped. She would have been there right when I was trying to pull Nikki from the rubble and get her into the Pokemon Centre…

Dark thoughts raided my head. Maybe if I hadn't been so preoccupied with Nikki when she was hurt, maybe if I had only gone outside once she had been taken care of instead of sitting on my backside feeling sorry for myself…there could have been a chance that I could have seen my mum! I felt so stupid! I had been so close to her! If I only had just gone to look outside instead of sitting doing nothing I could have seen her! I could have seen her…and this whole thing could've been over…

Dammit…it hurt so much to know that…

I missed her so much. At that point, I would have given anything in the world to have seen her again. I wanted to see her, hug her, talk to her…anything. I wanted to scream, cry out, throw a tantrum like some three year old child, anything to release this backlog of pent up emotions. I knew it wouldn't make a difference though. None of it would. I had missed my opportunity, simple as that. I think that was what hurt the most…

I told myself I had to stay optimistic. Now at least, I had verification. Mum really _was _in Hoenn. My doubts could end now. She was here and what's more, she was _close_. I had an idea of where to look for her now. I had to go to Sootopolis City. If what that woman in the Pokemon Mart had told me was true, Mum and whoever was travelling with her would be going there soon. I could maybe even get there ahead of her. That was my only hope. I had to cling to that.

With those decisions made, and noticing it was inching ever closer and closer to four o'clock, knowing sunrise wasn't far behind it, I knew I had to get going. I shouldered my bags once again, looked back towards the Pokemon Centre that contained my slumbering, blissfully unaware friends and let out a low sigh.

Then I turned on my heel and ran.

* * *

**Author's Note**

**A short chapter, yes. Kind of an intermission just to get the next bit of the plot rolling. Please don't be worried if you find the following chapter a bit confusing in parts, it's confusing even ME in places! In order to filter out a lot of filler and get to the next happening part of the story; I have done a time skip! **

**Wow...115 Reviews...I am shocked. I never expected this little fic could ever be so popular! I know it's probably nothing compared to the genius of other fics, but I am so happy!**

**I have a lot of people to thank! Bear with me!**

**K.A. Pyrde: Sorry, I just missed out on including your review last chapter...Yes, I can confirm that Kyogre will be appearing soon and will be a major part of the future of this fic as will hopefully a few other surprises..**

**MarLuna: Yes, she did indeed leave. It's good that at least one person suspected she would leave! Oh, and one of your guesses is right! But which one...?**

**AmpharosLover666: Damn right your reviews make me happy! I love reading them! The reporter was a bit of a bitch, wasn't she? Silly media...**

**Chaison: Aww, I'm glad the scene struck a chord with you! Even I got a little emotional writing it...Our Pokemon battle is going strong now, eh?**

**Chalcodes: Aww, well I'm updating quicker than normal due to high demand! Can I say that without looking too arrogant? :( Haha! Now we know where Sienna is going! She's on the road to Sootopolis City!**

**Hikaru-Pichu: It will be a Fire Pokemon next! But she doesn't really capture it...she kind of...acquires it? She's never really managed to have a successful capture on her own out in the wild...I need to fix that! **

**Winter's Wrath (formerly Winter-Dahlia): Yes...Sienna has up and left...silly girl. She just wants to protect her friends.**

**KyogrePerson: I don't think Sienna is in the right frame of mind at the moment. I suspect she eventually will, but she'll always have some sort of guilt. **

**Splashstorm: Thank you very much! I'm trying to update as often and as quick as I can!**

**Anonymous: Haha! Sienna's reaction to a bug type Pokemon...would be hilarious! I've gotta write that in now!**

**ParamoreDecoy: Yay! New reviewer! I don't really know if Sienna will go challenging more gyms...maybe she will, maybe she won't...I don't know yet. :)**

**L100Meganium: Left you till last cos I have so much to say! I saw how many reviews you had left and was like "Whoaaaaa! Oh my Goodness!" But your reviews were a pleasure to read, I assure you! Thank you so much! I hope I can answer all issues/questions you've brought up! **

**I like putting in little references to the game and anime, Misty's game speech, the Raichu like Lt. Surge's, etc. And I use a lot of exclamation marks because the narrative is all the direct thoughts of Sienna, her stream of thoughts if you will, like she's telling the story. Haha! Is Ice Blast really the same as Ice Ball? I thought they were two seperate attacks? Hmm...must look that up. I'm glad you like Elliot too, I love him personally. He hasn't had as much screen time as I would have liked him to have had, but he should be showing up again relatively soon. And I referenced American Pagents because even though we do have them here in Britain, I think they're made a much bigger deal of in America. Definitely all the shows I've seen about pagents seemed to be based in America. I think they do it a little more OTT than over here... Yeah, Sienna got so upset that she threw up is because she was very very young when her father did that to her, and the memory haunted her until she eventually blocked it out. It was the shock of such a horrible memory resurfacing so quickly that made her throw up. Wow...that is high praise indeed! I'm so flattered you like it so much! :D I'm really glad you're reviewing each chapter, I love people who do that! :D Thanks for explaining how colleges work in America, I seriously have no clue! Do you know that in Scotland we don't have to pay tuition fees so it's not AS expensive as in places like England or overseas? I'm so glad to be Scottish...Haha, yeah that bit with Nikki and Jasmine reminded me of Harry Potter too! I didn't even notice until I re-read it days later! I do try to put as much humour as I can into the fic in appropriate places! :D I AM very lucky to have such awesome reviewers, yourself included! I'm so happy! And thank you for responding so well on my paragraph about Mt Chimney...that was hard to write so I'm glad you appreicated it. **

**I think that's it...Hope that big long paragraph up there didn't confuse/annoy you too much. That'll have put the word count up like a shot...**

**Please read and review if you can! **


	29. Four Months Later

_**Four Months have Passed Since "Riding Solo"**_

* * *

I was locked in my tenth battle of the day.

"Aurora! Use Body Slam! Monty, use Faint Attack!"

The tag battle was going in my favour. The other trainer's Pokemon, a Combusken and a Linoone were a decent tag battling combination, but the trainer simply couldn't devote his attention to both Pokemon at once. I can't really blame him, he was young, inexperienced, all too eager to take on too much at once.

Dodging the Linoone's Headbutt attack by easily rolling out of the way, Aurora launched herself straight at it, squashing it with the full force of her ample body weight. The Linoone, dazed from the attack, stumbled backwards. It was down, but not out. A quick Ice Ball to the stomach quickly took care of that.

Monty executed Faint Attack, his now signature move, with practised ease. Dodging to the right hand side of the Combusken, he paused for just a split second. The Combusken, thinking he had found an opening lunged for him with a Double Kick, but then suddenly Monty disappeared! I heard the appreciative gasps from the crowd, a sound I could never get tired of hearing. A split second later, Monty appeared right next to Combusken, but on the opposite side! The trainer barely had time to react before Monty nailed the Combusken hard with the attack. It didn't cause that much damage, but it was fine, because I knew Combusken to be partially resistant to Dark type moves _and _I had already planned ahead.

"Aurora! Use Water Pulse!"

Monty easily leapt aside using his long lithe limbs like a springboard whilst Aurora let loose a powerful torrent of water from her mouth that hit the weakened Combusken straight on, sending him flying back into a wall. I grinned with triumph as the other trainer blinked in surprise and then dejectedly recalled his Pokemon, knowing he was defeated.

I walked up to him to collect my prize money. "It was a good battle," I grinned encouragingly at the little kid. "You have some really tough Pokemon."

The kid just shot me a glare and I had to stop myself from chuckling. I couldn't help but be reminded of _my _early days when I looked at that little kid so full of pride, so hurt by his loss. I flashed him another grin and turned away. Monty and Aurora were there waiting for me. Aurora was rolling around and clapping her fins together, doing her best impression of a trained seal, whilst Monty looked on disdainfully, licking his paws. I had to admit, they made a pretty good tag team even though the two of them didn't really get on outside of a battlefield…

"Excellent work, you two!" I grinned, kneeling down to their level and feeding them some Pokemon treats as reward.

Aurora practically inhaled the ones offered to her, whilst Monty took one sniff at them, decided they weren't to his standards and turned his nose up at them. Instead he began washing his paws again. I hung my head and tossed them to Aurora instead. Once she had swallowed them down, I recalled them to their Pokeballs and set out to explore a bit more.

The uneasy motion of the ferry made me feel a little nauseous as I walked, but I had taken so many ferry rides lately I had (sort of) become accustomed to it. I still didn't _like _it; I hated it, as always. I hated seeing the swirling black waters so deep you could never see the bottom no matter how hard you tried. A lot of things can change in four months, but that kind of fear sticks with you for a lifetime.

"_Attention passengers,"_ the captain's voice rang over the intercom. "_We are now approaching Lilycove City. We expect the boat to be docking in the harbour in ten to fifteen minutes. Thank you and enjoy the rest of your voyage._"

"Finally…" I mumbled darkly.

You're probably wondering what's going on, huh? Well long story short, I decided to pursue my mother in Sootopolis instead of hanging around near Lavaridge, in the vague hope my dad would come back (which I seriously doubted considering how badly he was chewed up by the Groudon)…

So what the hell are you doing in Lilycove then, I hear you shout. Let me explain a little better.

I had arrived in Sootopolis well over three months ago and after realising that _nothing _had happened there or looked likely to _be _happening there, it became clear that I couldn't exactly risk staying in the same place all the time. Sootopolis was a small, remote city and people very quickly noticed strangers. I have to admit, it was nothing short of a miracle I _hadn't _been found yet. I knew in my heart that Jasmine and Nikki wouldn't have just let me go without question. So I made numerous trips to the mainland, especially Lilycove, which was such a big city I could blend in easily without the risk of being seen. I hated doing it, because I was terrified that as soon as I left Sootopolis something bad would happen! But it never did. The city seemed to be at a standstill. Not a breeze of activity, not even a hint of strange goings on. I hadn't seen anyone I knew…not my mum, not my dad, not anybody. But at least…at least I had found enough out to come up with an interesting little theory…

I reached in my bag for the book I had bought in Sootopolis City Pokemon Mart when I had first arrived there. It was a kind of like an encyclopaedia, documenting the various sights and attractions of the city. Most of it was designed for tourists, but there was one little bit that caught my interest…

Apparently Sootopolis City had its own little legend, very similar to that of Lavaridge Town. Whilst Lavaridge was said to have housed Groudon in Mt Chimney (but whether or not the Groudon was still _there _after his home was almost destroyed and he was almost captured by a gang of power hungry Pokemon thieves, I didn't know), Sootopolis was supposed to be very heavily involved with the legend of Kyogre, the counterpart legend to Groudon. It didn't take me long at all after finding that book to think that if my dad was going to go anywhere after the failure of Groudon, reason told me it would be after Kyogre. It didn't take a genius to figure out that's probably why Mum was going there too…

But that assumption brought with it a whole other load of questions. If what that old woman had told me way back in Lavaridge was true and Mum really had been in that same shop just a few hours ahead of me, it seemed to me like she knew about this whole thing too. Somehow she_ knew_ about what Dad was doing. At least that was the impression I got.

The old woman had told me that mum seemed to be travelling with a group and that they were to "reconvene" in Sootopolis once "everything calmed down" because "_they _weren't going to try again for a while". What did that mean, exactly? Who were _they_? Was it mum and her group? Or were they referencing Dad? If they were, like I suspected, that meant that Mum and whatever group she was with knew about Dad and his organization trying to capture Groudon! Had they suspected before I did that they would try for Kyogre instead of wasting their time on Groudon again? I didn't know, and I hated that I didn't know. All I knew was that I had to be waiting there for them if both of them really did end up on Sootopolis. I wasn't exactly unprepared. Four months on the road by yourself meant you had a lot of time for training.

You're probably wondering what I've been doing the past four months, eh? Well, the answer to that is just travelling and training. Oh yeah, and keeping a low profile. I had run away from Nikki and Jasmine for a reason and if they had come after me like I suspected they probably would have, I couldn't allow myself to be seen. Being seen meant the possibility of being found. So I never stayed in one place too long. Sacrifices had to be made too. For the past four months I never saw the inside of a Pokemon Centre unless there was a serious emergency. That meant for the whole four months, I camped outside instead of staying in a Pokemon Centre room.

Of course, that meant I didn't have much clue as to what was going on in the outside world. I knew that there hadn't been any new attempts in Lavaridge to go after Groudon, but I only knew that because people didn't talk about anything like that. I never heard anyone talking, like they did just after the earthquakes in Lavaridge subsided, even in big cities like Lilycove. Even what little I _did _catch on the television on my rare trips in to the Pokemon Centres all the more reinforced my theories. There was nothing about any "natural disasters" or _anything _that would even give a hint to any suspicious happenings.

As I said, with little to no access to television or _any _technology, I didn't know if Jasmine and Nikki had reported my disappearance to the authorities (I prayed to God they hadn't), how Elliot had fared in the Elite Four challenge (I felt a pang of sadness at this one) and I hadn't called home in that four months…maybe for all I knew my mum had come home. I doubted that highly though.

So for me, those four months were a blur of training, battling and making a living on the bare minimum. They were tough, maddening times; sometimes we didn't know where our next meal was coming from, how we would make it to the next city without fainting from exhaustion…we crawled through mud, hacked our way through tall grass and weeds, endured the coldest rainstorms and the hottest temperatures…It was often infuriating, tiring, exhausting and with every step I took I cursed every decision I had ever made, wished I had never even become a Pokemon trainer, wished I'd just stayed at home instead of getting myself mixed up in all this strife and conflict. It was a hideous, exasperating, harsh time out there on my own and me, and my Pokemon, hated every minute of it.

But it made us strong.

That was the only reason I endured it. Put up with it. Carried on when anyone else would have quit. I needed to get strong, make my Pokemon tough. How else was I going to defeat my father? I had been too blind when I first started out, caring more about friends and meeting new people than what I had sworn to do…perhaps if I'd taken everything more seriously at first, we wouldn't be in the mess we were in now. My guilt burned incessantly, fuelled with every dark thought that entered my head…

So I pushed myself and my Pokemon through rigorous training sessions, working all the time on increasing speed, strength, endurance, perfecting old moves and learning new ones. Even though my team still stood at three Pokemon, they were tough, experienced and veterans of numerous battles, all strong in their own rights. It had been a long, hard road to get them trained up, and we endured many many losses by the hands of elite trainers, but it had all been worth it. My team was stronger than I could have ever hoped for. I felt I could take on anyone and win.

"_Attention passengers, we are now docking in Lilycove Harbour. Thank you for sailing with us today."_

With that, as the ferry chugged into Lilycove Harbour, I stood up, ready to disembark.

An earlier thought I had had on the ferry returned to me as I clambered down the gangplank into Lilycove Harbour. I knew it was doubtful but…what if my mother really _had _gone home? What if, in the time it took for "things to calm down", she had gone home to see me? It was a thought I couldn't shake and by the time I reached the centre of the city, I gave in.

Faced with the video phones in the Pokemon Centre, I found myself fraught with nerves. I couldn't face dialling my own number, so instead I found myself calling Professor Oak.

He answered on the first ring to my total surprise. He looked flustered at first when he answered, but his face broke out into a smile when he saw me.

"Oh my! Sienna! It's been a long time!"

"Yeah…hi, Professor…" I mumbled shyly. "Listen, I was wondering if—"

Professor Oak turned pale. He seemed to know exactly what I was going to say and cut in quickly. "If your mother's been home?"

"Yeah…Has she?"

"No. I'm afraid not."

"Oh…" I said, feeling somewhat disappointed. I decided not to take it to heart and instead take the opportunity now to quiz him on a few other things I had ticking around my brain. "Listen, I know this is a bit of a strange question…but you didn't see me on the news, did you?"

"Oh, yes…" Professor Oak said gravely and my heart sunk. "You were mixed up with that volcanic eruption at Lavaridge, weren't you? You even got captured by people who where there, didn't you? Are you okay?"

A wondrous feeling of relief swept over me instead as he said that. "Yeah, I'm okay! Really! But um… I was wondering…aside from that whole thing with Mt Chimney, I haven't been on the news _recently_, have I? Like within the past couple of months…?"

"No, my dear…" Oak said, puzzled. "Why would you be?"

I sighed. "You better sit down, Professor. This is a long story."

I relayed the whole thing to Professor Oak in a hushed voice. I felt comfortable talking to him about it, like I was talking to my grandfather or a close family friend. He oohed and aahed at the appropriate times at first, but his face twisted into a frown when I started telling him about Groudon. Then it downright fell when I told him how I was convinced it was my father who had headed the whole thing and also my theories about them maybe trying for Kyogre next. He nodded his head in understanding when I suggested to him that maybe my mother knew what was going on about my father too. Why else _would _she have been there at Lavaridge right after me?

Although obviously just as concerned about the wellbeing of the legendary Pokemon, Professor Oak attempted to assure me that there was no way mere Pokemon trainers could ever realistically hope to capture Pokemon like Groudon and Kyogre. Especially not Groudon, considering the fact Mt Chimney was almost inaccessible now after the steps Groudon had taken to protect itself and its home. I still wasn't so sure and I told him so. He promised me he'd "look into it", whatever that meant…

He seemed to be intrigued at the idea of my mother travelling with one group all dressed in blue and my father another all dressed in black. He wondered, could we be facing a revival of Teams Aqua and Magma? I had no idea what they were, but before I could ask, he steamed ahead with his monologue. He assured me again that there was no way anyone could ever hope to capture Groudon and Kyogre, but just to be sure, he was going to "call in some favours" to ensure the Legendary Pokemons' safety. I didn't know what that entailed, but I sensed I could trust him and at least it made me feel a _little _better. I still had an imposing feeling that it wouldn't make much difference no matter how much protection was given to the Legendaries…My dad was determined and strong…if he wanted Kyogre or Groudon he would stop at nothing until he got them.

Eventually when he was satisfied with his monologue, he started lecturing me on my safety. Turns out he had seen me on the news too when Meloi had blown up the gym. Adding that on to being abducted and held underground, he wasn't such a big fan of me insisting I was going to stick around Sootopolis and wait and see if my mum _did _appear, especially if what we had surmised was true and that dad really _was _after Kyogre. I won him over eventually, telling him I had to see if my theories proved true.

Speaking of which, I knew all my theories were based off coincidences and assumptions, but they were all I had. Call me crazy, but I had a feeling dad would appear in Sootopolis, but even if he didn't I still wanted to be there when my mum eventually showed up. Stopping Dad was important, but with no solid idea where he was going to turn up, I had to stick with what I knew for definite. Mum _was _going to be in Sootopolis at some point. I had to go with that.

I had the idea in my head that Iwould join her and whatever group she was involved in and, if they already weren't doing so already, try and convince them to go after Dad. It seemed to me though that all the evidence pointed to the idea that they too were after Dad and whatever schemes he was attempting to pull off. I mean, how much more "incident in Hoenn concerning my father" could Dad blowing up a volcano and trying to capture Groudon be? No, I was convinced Mum and whoever was with her were trying to stop Dad, same as I was. It made sense too that they would probably have more information and intelligence than I had, already knowing that after the failure with Groudon Dad would probably try somewhere else. I had the feeling Mum and her people wouldn't have even _mentioned_ going to Sootopolis unless that's where Dad was going to try next.

The situation infuriated me as well as confused me greatly as I got bogged down in finer details and thread thin theories. I was basing every idea I had, every reason I had on the _assumption _Dad would have just left Groudon be after he wasn't successful the first time. What if I was wrong…? I had no way of knowing.

But still…something inside me, my gut feeling, which had never really been wrong, told me that I was _right_. I had a creeping feeling Dad _was _going to come to Sootopolis; he _was _going to try and find Kyogre, wherever it may be; and Mum and her people _were _after him, somehow knowing already of his intentions and trying to get ahead of him…

I would just have to wait and see, wouldn't I?

"Umm, Sienna…?" Professor Oak ventured after we got the theories and his monologue about my safety out of the way. "Listen, I have a bit of a request for you?"

"Oh really? What?" I asked warily.

He looked a little sheepish. "Do you remember your Mum's Growlithe?"

"How could I forget…?" I said darkly.

"Yes, quite...well, you see, whilst a girl called Cathy, another trainer I know, was staying with me for a while, your mother's Growlithe ended up getting quite…_friendly _with Cathy's Growlithe FiFi.

"_Fifi! What the hell kind of name is _that_?" _I thought to myself in disgust.

"Of course you would have guessed Cathy's Growlithe was a female…"

"Uh-huh…" I said slowly, not really liking where this conversation was going.

"Well, long story short, the two Growlithe ended up…producing an egg…"

"An Egg?" I frowned. "_How in the name of HELL can two freakin' _dogs _produce an Egg?_"

"Yeah…and well, Cathy, the girl who owns the female Growlithe couldn't take it with her…her team was already full. So, I kept it here and it eventually hatched…into quite a feisty little thing really."

"Yeah…" I said, wishing he would just get to his point.

"Only thing is, I can't really look after _him _as well as your mother's Growlithe. The baby needs to be out with a trainer, working off some energy. He's not suited for the life of a house pet. I was going to see if any other trainers would like to adopt him, but after Cathy gave up ownership, he really is your Mum's Growlithe now… and I wanted to know if you would take him? "

"Me?" I said in surprised. "Are you sure _I_ should take him?"

"I understand that it is a big ask, raising a baby Pokemon…but if your team is already full, then it's quite all right. I just thought you would take him since you are the only rightful owner remaining…considering we can't find your mum and the girl who owned his mother doesn't want him…"

"Why doesn't she want him?" I found myself asking.

"Well, to put it bluntly, he's a bit of a troublemaker…shall we say…he's a little…"

"Spirited?" I ventured, chuckling.

Professor Oak laughed delightedly. "Yes, that is one word to describe him. He's very loud and energetic…he would be, he's a puppy after all… I know it's a big ask, and I know you probably have a full team already, but would you take him? Please?"

It didn't take me long to decide on an answer. I felt a strange amount of pity for that poor unwanted Growlithe. It wasn't his fault the person who owned its mother didn't want to know, he didn't deserve to be confined and kept in one place all the time. It would be cruel. Besides, my team was already full of misfits, what difference would one more make?

"Of course I'll take him, Professor. Believe me, I'm used to baby Pokemon and I only have a team of three, so yeah…of course I'll take him."

"You will? Really! Oh, that's excellent! I'll send him over at once!"

And with that, Professor Oak instructed me on how to use the strange machines that were somehow able to transport Pokemon like data from one Pokemon Centre to another. As Professor Oak set things up on his end, I waited with bated breath. I almost jumped with surprise when the machine started whirring and making strange noises all on its own until eventually a gleaming red Pokeball just materialized in front of me. I picked up the unfamiliar red ball, turning it over and over in my hands. I found it hard to believe it contained a new Pokemon to add to my team… I had become so used to only a three Pokemon team for so long…what would it be like with a fourth addition? How would the other three take it?

I said goodbye to Professor Oak, thanking him for the Growlithe (which I supposed technically _was_ mine anyway) and he wished me good luck, telling me to be careful. I assured him I would be, thanked him again and put the phone down, sighing. I then looked at the Pokeball in my hand.

I had never gotten along really with my mum's Growlithe. He was a massive energetic ball of fur, forever playfully snapping at my heels and growling and barking…and he was a fully grown Growlithe! How bad was that Growlithe's _puppy _going to be? He would be nothing but a manic, excitable, fire breathing bundle of energy! Could I really handle that?

But then again, when I thought about it, I had raised difficult Pokemon before. I had raised Meloi, the shock-everything-in-sight disobedient electric sheep, Aurora the baby Spheal with the attention span of a toaster and Monty the high class, high maintenance stuck up Persian…and I'd like to think they turned out pretty well. If I could handle _them, _I should be able to handle _anything_. Shouldn't I?

Still looking at the Pokeball containing my new Growlithe rather disbelievingly, I decided that before I even started to worry about how to raise a _new _baby Pokemon, I should probably let the poor little thing out so I could see it before I jumped to any conclusions. I mean, I _had _promised I would take him since no-one else wanted him…I couldn't back out now no matter _what_ kind of personality he had.

So I tossed the Pokeball to the floor and a moment later, a tiny Growlithe appeared in a flash of white light. I had to admit, he was cute. He blinked in the strange new surroundings, his tongue slipped lazily out of his mouth and then his eyes stopped on me.

"Hi!" I grinned, perhaps too cheerily in my nervousness. "I'm Sienna! I'm your new trainer! You're going to be coming with me from now on!"

The Growlithe cocked his head at me. For a moment I totally expected the worst and I prepared to duck from an incoming Fire attack, but instead the Growlithe stretched its mouth into what anyone would have said was a grin.

"Growl!" he yipped happily, his tail beginning to waggle.

Next thing I knew, the Growlithe had launched itself at me and knocked me to the ground. I squealed at first, thinking that he was going to do a Monty and attack and bite and scratch me, but instead, I felt a thick, sloppy tongue slap on my face. He was licking me!

"Ewwww…" I squealed feeling thick globs of cold slobber on my face. I tried to fend the manic ball of fluff off, but he proved a lot stronger than I expected. "Get off!"

"_Well this is interesting…" _I thought as I eventually managed to prise off the yipping excited puppy. "_This over affectionate licking monster should be a _fine_ addition to my "spirited" team…"_

* * *

**Author's Note**

**Well...hopefully this chapter didn't confuse you too much. I hope this settles any scares you all had about Sienna leaving without her Pokemon and even RELEASING Meloi! :O**

**And Sienna has a new Pokemon! At last! Her mother's Growlithe's son! :D Nothing like keeping it in the family.**

**I'm afraid you'll have to expect some filler for a while before the story picks up again! Sorry...but on the plus side, expect Sienna finally PROPERLY catching a Pokemon by herself instead of being given one or catching it accidentally. Also, Elliot will be making an appearance soon. **

**Thanks to all my lovely readers and reviewers! :D Thank you all for your guesses about Cal and Suzanne, and I have to say that your theories on Team Aqua/Magma are close to being right, but not quite. Not telling you anything else, you'll just have to wait and see!**

**KyogrePerson: I'm afraid I can't answer...sorry! It would spoil the story...**

**AmpharosLover666: Your review made me laugh so hard! Don't worry, Sienna hasn't released Meloi. She'll be back in the next chapter! ;) And she'll be a _little _different!**

**xPikachu-Princessx: Aww, I love first time reviewers! :D Thank you so much for your lovely review! I'm so happy you think the story "rocks"! :D**

**Hikaru-pichu: Again, I'm really sorry, but I can't reveal anything about the plot! :( Yeah, I think Sienna's been very toughened up. She's had a complete personality shift now that you'll see more of soon. **

**Winter's Wrath: Eeek, I feel so bad I can't say anything about the plot! You're all nearly right, you're in the neighbourhood at least! Yes, Wallace _might _be making a tiny little appearance... ;) I had him written in anyway, so yeah! :D **

**Chalcodes: Love you too, Chal! :D Hopefully the story will get exciting again soon! :D**

**ParamoreDecoy: Don't panic! No-one's releasing anyone, I assure you! Haha! And Elliot will be showing up soon, I really miss him too... and yeah, Nikki and Jasmine ARE going after Sienna, but they're not doing very well at the moment, so she's got nothing to worry about. **

**Anonymous: Eeek, I don't know when the story will end...I don't have a fixed number of chapters in my head... Maybe 50 chapters at the most? I don't know! :( Thank you so much for your awesome review and I'll try to update as fast as I can for you. **

**Anonymous: Don't worry about not giving monumental reviews, I don't mind at all. Emm, what do you mean "Ask Digital Skitty why Sienna went to Sunyshore"? I'm so confused...**

**Please R & R if you can!**


	30. Great Paws of Fire Part I

"Okaaaaay…" I said to myself slowly, looking at the baby Growlithe as it weaved itself in and around my legs, sniffing me and yipping happily. "This is interesting…"

"Growl! Growl!" he barked and growled playfully, biting at the hem of my jeans, tugging at it fiercely.

I heard an ominous rip and then felt an unpleasant breeze around my ankle. I blew out as I saw the baby Growlithe displaying a scrap of washed out blue denim proudly in his mouth. I tugged it from him, sighing and surveyed the damage on my jeans. Deciding my jeans were already ripped and tattered enough that one more rip wouldn't make much difference; I chose not to make an issue of it.

"All right, let's have a look here, then…" I murmured, delving in my bag for my relatively disused Pokedex. It took me a long time to find it; it was hidden under a pile of other stuff right at the bottom of my bag. "Now where is that bloody thin—Oh?"

Right at the bottom of the bag, hiding my Pokedex was the TM case and Badge case that Jasmine had bought for me not long after I won my gym battle with Misty. The TM case was totally empty; it had only ever housed one TM which I had promptly used on Aurora and the Badge case contained a very dusty Cascade Badge. I felt a pang of sadness as I held those things in my hands. Memories stirred in me as I held those physical reminders of all the good times. Then, as I found the photograph, I had to physically bite back the tears. It was just a silly little snap that was taken totally on impulse in a photobooth on Slateport beach. A little smile tugged at my mouth and I felt my eyes well up slightly as I saw me, Jasmine, Nikki and all making silly faces at the camera, trying to cajole Scott into having some fun too, but he was having none of it. At that point, for the first time in a long time, my composure was jeopardized and for a moment I wished I had never left Jasmine and Nikki alone…

"Growl!""

I was distracted by a shooting pain in my ankle as the Growlithe decided that I wasn't paying him enough attention or something and he sunk his teeth into my ankle. I screeched with the pain and managed to shake him off. He didn't seem at all fazed by me kicking him off and instead started leaping at me, yipping excitedly.

As a lot of trainers, intrigued by the noise, turned to look at me, I felt a blush redden my cheeks and I had to turn away. "_Dammit…I need to make sure I keep a low profile!_"

With that, I scooped up the yipping Growlithe and went outside to a more secluded area where no-one could see us. I put the Growlithe down and he leapt around my feet eagerly as I fumbled for my Pokedex again. I eventually pulled it out and pointed the scanner at him, eager to find out a little more about him.

"_Growlithe the Puppy Pokemon. Growlithe are very loyal and won't move unless their trainer commands it._" My Pokedex chirruped.

I cast a wary look at my Growlithe now bouncing around at my feet and snapping his teeth together. "_Somehow I get the feeling this Growlithe might _just _be the exception to the rule._"

A moment later what I really wanted to see flashed up on the Pokedex screen. I sat on a nearby bench, shielding the Pokedex's screen from the harsh light of the sun and then I almost fell backwards as my new Growlithe threw itself at me and started licking my face again. I groaned, trying to fend him off and to protect my Pokedex from the Growlithe's sopping wet tongue and still read what it was telling me.

"All right, so you're a male, level…four…" I read off the screen slowly, feeling a sense of disappointment rise up as I saw that little number "4" blinking at me. "Huh…well…I think that's gonna need some work…"

"Growl?" Growlithe wagged his tail at me, totally oblivious.

I tried not to feel too disappointed in the knowledge that the Growlithe was at such a low level, I mean, he was only a few levels weaker than Aurora had been when I first got her, and he_ was_ still a baby after all. It was just with all the training I had done with Meloi, Aurora and Monty to train them up, and considering they were all within reaching distance of level thirty now…the thought of having to start practically from the beginning again wasn't exactly top on my list of things I wanted to do.

"Growl! Growl!" Growlithe barked, pawing at my shirt to get my attention.

Then again, as I looked down at this little puppy, the picture of cuteness and innocence, I couldn't help but imagine him like Mum's Growlithe, powerful and strong…Growlithes were tough, loyal, strong Pokemon with wicked Fire attacks that could evolve into _Arcanine_, for Goodness sake.

Maybe this little guy _was _worth all the extra training and effort if he could become _that _strong. Having a Fire type around was nothing to sneeze at either…

The Pokedex beeped, signalling it had come up with a list of the Growlithe's known attacks. I read them off the screen with interest. He didn't know many attacks, I had to admit, but that was fine…the first two were attacks I expected him to know: Bite and Roar, but the third…the third completely shocked me.

"You know Crunch?" I gasped, looking at this little ball of orange fluff.

He just barked happily at me in response. I blinked, making sure I was reading it right; but there it was in black and white, the word "Crunch" next to the Growlithe's icon. I looked at Growlithe and he bared his teeth at me (in a friendly way, I hasten to add) and I caught sight of those powerful looking jaws and I winced.

"_What is it with Pokemon who hatch from Eggs?"_ I thought to myself as I warily lowered the Growlithe to the ground and stowed my Pokedex away. "_Nikki's Magby knew Ember as soon as it hatched and apparently that's not supposed to happen! I know for a fact that baby Growlithe _shouldn't _know a move like Crunch either! Bloody hell, what's going on?"_

"Growl! Growl!" Growlithe yipped happily as I got to my feet again, eagerly jumping up at me as I tried to walk.

I realised I was forgetting something. "Oh God! I need to give you a nickname!"

Growlithe cocked his head to one side. "Gr?"

"What to call you…?" I wondered out loud. I had to come up with something original and unique and it had to be at least on a par with Meloi, Aurora and Monty…I didn't want the newest addition to miss out on a good name.

I considered a lot of typical dog names like Rover, Lucky and Buster and things like that, but they were definitely _not _original or unique in any way. I considered Cerberus, but I think _one _Pokemon with a nickname taken from mythology was quite enough. I considered names like Axel and Bandit and even _Demon_, but thought they all seemed a little too hardcore and didn't really suit a tiny little cute ball of fluff…

Then I thought about Fang. It was a good, strong name and I liked it, but it didn't seem very unique. I ran through all the variations of the name that I knew and suddenly it hit me!

"Kiba!" I decided proudly.

"Growl?"

"Kiba!" I repeated again, liking the way it sounded on my tongue. "_Well, if Jasmine can call her Marill the Japanese for "Water", then I can certainly call my Growlithe "Kiba", the Japanese for "Fang"!"_

"Do you like it?" I grinned, kneeling down to pat the tiny Growlithe on his head.

"Growl! Growl_ithe_!" Kiba barked happily and then proceeded to jump at me. Of course, I was kneeling down, rather badly balanced and the force behind his leap sent me sprawling backwards and I slammed my head into the back of the bench. Hard.

"Ow…" I murmured, feeling an alarmingly large lump beginning to fall at the back of my head. Trying to ignore the thumping pain, I forced myself to sit up and get to my feet. "Come on, Kiba. Let's go and see if we can kick start our training!"

"Growl! Growl!" Kiba bounded off after me as I led him out the city, trying to scout out a suitable, out of the way place to start our training.

* * *

The sun was dipping into the horizon, sending wispy patterns of vibrant red into the sky above us before I eventually gave in and quit for the day. Kiba was exhausted, I was exhausted, but I was satisfied with the progress we had made. Kiba was an energetic little thing and he had some pretty decent attacks. His Roar was chilling and intimidating enough to send the annoying Zigzagoon Pokemon scuttling away in fear, and Bite and Crunch were effective at knocking out the Oddish and occasional Gloom that decided they too wanted a piece of the action. We were even beginning to see the first inklings of Ember! So all in all, it was a successful day and I decided to find a suitable place to pitch my tent and rest for a while.

Recalling Kiba to his Pokeball, I stretched my stiff arms as I walked, marvelling at the beauty of the sky around me. I was absolutely knackered from the day's travelling and training, but I was content. I had to admit, Kiba was adorable and I can't tell you how unusual, but nice it was to have a Pokemon that actually seemed to _like _me. I was happy to welcome him to my team, especially since he was shaping up to be such a good battler.

I carried on walking, looking for a good place to set up camp for the night. I wasn't going to stay in Lilycove long, just for a few days to get a bit of shopping done in the big shopping Centre and find a decent couple of opponents to challenge myself with. I was _even _considering challenging the Lilycove Gym. It had been a long time since I had challenged a Gym, but if I wanted a serious battle, I couldn't think of anything more testing than taking on a Gym Leader.

While I was thinking this I suddenly had the bizarre feeling that I was being watched. I stopped in my tracks and looked around, but seeing nothing, I shrugged it off and carried on deeper into the Route. Then, as I finally came across a decent place to pitch my tent, a sudden movement at the corner of my eye made me whip around. There, standing only a few metres away from me was a man dressed all in black.

"Pardon me, love." The man had a thick accent of an origin I couldn't identify. He also had a strange red burn on his face that could only have been caused by some kind of vicious attack, I reckoned. "Don't suppose you could tell me when the next ferries sail to Sootopolis, could you?"

I didn't like the look of this guy at all. "I'm sorry," I said, trying to keep my voice as pleasant as possible. "I'm afraid I don't know."

It was an outright, bare-faced lie. Something told me I shouldn't trust this guy.

"Oh, now that is a shame." The man sighed theatrically. "Oh well…guess I'll just have to go and find out for myself."

He turned on his heel to leave, but a sudden urge in me made me cry out after him.

"W…wait!"

"Yes, love?" the man asked, turning around to look at me.

The overly familiar tone he used made me feel uncomfortable, but I tried to ignore the sick, squeezing sensation I got in my stomach every time I looked at him. "Wh…why do you want to go to Sootopolis anyway? I hear there's nothing there of interest,"

"Au contraire my dear…" the man said with a sly grin as he turned away and began walking. "There is _plenty _of interest there so long as you know what you're looking for."

It was then that I recognised him. Fear shot through my body and I cursed myself for not seeing it earlier. I was so stupid! It wasn't as if the black clothes and the burn weren't a big enough giveaway!

He was one of the men that had been working under my dad!

My legs turned to jelly and my body froze with fear as I looked this man up and down. I placed him immediately. He was one of the men I had seen standing next to my dad right at the entrance to the hideout when we had escaped! He didn't seem to know who I was even though I had recognised him. I had to know… what was he doing _here_! He couldn't be…going to Sootopolis after Kyogre, could he? What if he was, I thought in terror! I had to stop him!

Renewed determination washed over me and I unhooked a Pokeball from my belt.

"STOP!"

"Hmm…?"

He turned around and his expression noticeably changed as he saw me holding a Pokeball out to him. His face twisted into a frown. "My dear…what are you doing?"

"I know who you are!" my voice sounded more confident than I felt, that was for sure. "I know what you're doing here! You're one of the men that's working under my father, aren't you? You're here on his orders and you're going after Kyogre, aren't you?"

To my surprise, the man did not try to deny my accusations. A simple smile appeared on his face and he stepped closer to me. "And just who, pray tell, is your father, my dear?"

"Don't play dumb with me!" I snarled. "His name is Cal! Cal Volbeda! He's the one who's in charge of this whole thing! He's the one who wanted to capture Groudon! And he's sent you here to go after Kyogre too! Well, I won't let you do that!"

A strange expression passed over the man's face and then he started chuckling. I was put off by this strange reaction and I found myself backing off, lowering the Pokeball.

"Oh, my dear, you are a naïve little thing, aren't you?" he laughed.

I had no idea what he was talking about, but he was beginning to seriously annoy me. "Shut up! Don't write me off just because I'm young! I'm...I'm my father's daughter, I'll have you know!" those words felt like poison on my tongue as I said them, but some stupid part of me thought that maybe I could intimidate him if I told him who I was... "I could take you out with _one _Pokemon!"

This just seemed to make the man laugh harder. When he eventually regained control of himself, he slipped his hand into his trenchcoat pocket and pulled out two Pokeballs. The sight of the two Pokeballs did not fill me with as much terror as it would have four months ago and I simply pulled out a second Pokeball to comply. "Fine then! I'll take you out with _two _Pokemon! It'll be easy! Like child's play! I can take you just fine!"

The man chuckled, carelessly letting loose a vicious looking Seviper and to my horror, a Butterfree. I didn't like bugs at all. I know Butterfree aren't exactly the ugliest or the freakiest looking Bug Pokemon, but they still made me shudder. "Oh you poor innocent little girl," the man was still chuckling, but then his voice suddenly took on a serious edge. "That wasn't what I meant…"

"Huh…?"

His words puzzled me, but I had no time to think on it. The man was ready for a Pokemon battle! Before he could get in before I did, I released Aurora and Monty with the orders to use Fury Swipes and Body Slam. My Pokemon burst from their capsules and threw themselves straight into battle like they had so many times before.

Only this time, things didn't go in my favour…

Without even instruction from their trainer, the Butterfree effortlessly dodged Monty's Fury Swipes attack, flying higher into the air than even he could jump. Monty snarled, jumping up at the Butterfree, uselessly swiping at it. Meanwhile, the Seviper slithered straight out of the way of Aurora's Body Slam and coiled itself around her, squeezing her tightly, making her squeal.

"Butterfree! Use Silver Wind!"

"Dammit!" I cursed. "Monty, dodge it and counter with—No!"

Even before I could get my command out, the Butterfree began flapping its wings, kicking up powerful gusts of wind, studded with silver crescents and sparkles. It was a beautiful move that didn't look like much, but to me it was crushing…it hit Monty so hard he was knocked back. Dazed, he tried to get up again. I watched in horror as everything seemed to move like a fast forwarded recording and the Butterfree zoomed in and hit Monty hard with a perfectly timed Gust attack. I couldn't believe it. He was out.

"Seviper! Poison Tail, now!"

At its master's words, the Seviper tossed poor Aurora roughly to the side. As she struggled to catch her breath, totally immobilised, the dagger like tail of the Seviper turned purple and it slammed into her. She squealed in pain and tired to endure it, but the hit was powerful and even worse, when she eventually seemed to recover, I recognised the signs of poison. I couldn't believe it. Monty had been knocked out by _two _moves and Aurora had been poisoned from that Seviper, meaning she was as good as knocked out too…

Furious, I recalled both Aurora and Monty. Aurora _could _have still battled, but I wasn't going to make her whilst she was poisoned; that was cruel. I couldn't watch her get progressively weaker and weaker all the time. I swallowed hard as the man's Butterfree and Seviper returned to his side and his face spread into a malicious grin. I found myself wanting to scream in frustration. _How _could Monty and Aurora have been taken out so easily! Had all this training been for _nothing_? My rage burned. This man was working for my father! I knew he was going after Kyogre! I had to stop him!

Thankfully, I had saved the best for last…

"Meloi! Come out!" I tossed the Pokeball into the air.

The man smirked as he caught sight of his new opponent. "Ah, I see…how interesting…"

"Flaaaaaffy!"

Oh yeah…guess I forgot to mention. Meloi evolved. The story behind it though, will have to wait.

"Meloi, use Thundershock now!"

Meloi raced forwards on her hind legs, a sight I still wasn't used to seeing, her little pink and black ears sparkling with yellow electricity, and she fired a huge blast of electrical energy straight at the Seviper. The power behind the attack shocked even me. I knew that Flaaffys were able to store far more electricity in their wool than Mareeps even though Mareeps had far more wool on their body, but still…seeing the power my little Meloi was capable of…I was in awe.

The man's Seviper was toast, and he recalled it without a word. I half expected (and somewhat dreaded) for him to release another Pokemon, but he did not. He didn't seem to _have _any more Pokemon. This confused me…how could someone carry out such an important mission as going after Kyogre with only _two _Pokemon, no matter how well trained they were?

I didn't want to think on it too long. That Butterfree was a tricky customer and even though I had the type advantage, I didn't want to leave it up to chance. I had to get rid of it as quickly as possible. "Meloi, use Thundershock again!"

"Butterfree, use Sleep Powder!"

"Dodge it, Meloi!" I begged.

Butterfree flapped its elegant wings and kicked up a huge cloud of sparkling white dust. Meloi managed to dodge out of the way and sent another Thundershock in the Butterfree's direction, but to my horror, the Butterfree was able to zip elegantly out of the way! My jaw dropped. That thing was too fast! I had to slow it down! But evidently, the man was thinking the exact same about Meloi…

"Meloi! Use Cotton Spore!"

"Butterfree, use String Shot!"

The two attacks, fired at almost the exact same time, shot straight past each other and hit each Pokemon dead on. Meloi squealed as the sticky string wrapped itself around her, tying her up, stopping her from moving. Whilst poor Meloi got caught in the Butterfree's sticky trap, at least the cottony balls managed to hit the Butterfree too.

But whilst Butterfree's movement was just slowed, Meloi was totally incapable of even lifting a paw. She squawked and squealed, trying to break free of her sticky binds, but no matter how hard she struggled, the restraints held fast. She even tried to shock them off, but it didn't work. When she tried to shock the Butterfree instead, her aim wavered and missed completely.

"_No! No way! This can't be happening!_" I thought desperately to myself as the Butterfree began preparing another Silver Wind to hit my totally immobile Meloi with. "_I can't be…losing! I've trained too hard for this! I know my Pokemon are strong so _why _am I losing! This guy…he must be really powerful! He's in a totally different league from those guys with the Mightyena! But I have to stop him! Somehow! I can't let him get away! I _have _to stop him!_"

A powerful Silver Wind hit poor Meloi straight in the face, knocking her over. I gasped in surprise as it seemed to be even more powerful than before. Meloi wasn't out, just yet, but she was down; as good as KO'd with her inability to move.

I had to do something. Meloi couldn't battle any more and neither could Aurora or Monty. The man saw the helpless look on my face, scoffed and turned away.

"I would have thought that being the daughter of "the great Cal Volbeda"…" the man's voice was cold and mocking, with an edge to it I did not like at all. "…you would have presented a little more of a…challenge…And instead, what do I get? A novice, at best. Pfft! Go back to the trainer's school, little girl and leave men like me to do their jobs."

My rage burned. My vision turned red. I don't know what made me do it but I grabbed the only other Pokeball I had at my belt. I threw it straight at the man and it hit him right in the back of the head and then burst open revealing Kiba.

He barked at first happily at being let out, but then he caught sight of the angered look on the mysterious man's face and instead he began growling. I found myself slightly in awe at the low, dangerous rumbling sound emanating from that tiny Pokemon's throat. Then suddenly he let out a loud howl, so bone chilling and intimidating that even I took a step back. The man looked a little surprised as his Butterfree quivered with fear.

I recalled Meloi to her Pokeball. She couldn't help me now. Kiba was still growling just ahead of me, a complete change from his normally affectionate, excitable nature. The Butterfree fluttered up high into the air as Kiba let out another howl and a series of barks and snarls.

I knew it was stupid to rely on Kiba, he was tiny, almost completely inexperienced and exhausted from the day's rigorous training, but he was all that I had to stop this man from getting to Kyogre!

"Don't write me out just yet!" I said, and this time, inexplicably, I _did _feel confident. "Don't forget, I'm Cal Volbeda's daughter! We don't give up that easily!"

"Growl! Growl!" Kiba barked, adding his fierce growls to my declaration.

The man sighed and rubbed the back of his neck in a bored fashion. "Guess you really _are _his daughter…you've got that same damn stubborn attitude…"

I smiled triumphantly.

"All right, Butterfree, let's make this quick…Use Stun Spore!"

"Dodge it and use Roar, Kiba!"

"Free! Free!" the Butterfree chirruped as it sent clouds of yellowy gold dust at Kiba, but he easily leapt out of the way. Pivoting on his heel, he let out a long, chilling howl that made the Butterfree stop in its tracks and tremble…

"Well…" A smirk appeared on the man's face. "You really think you can beat me with that? A little Roar? Hah! All your Pokemon are the same; all bark and no bite. Don't make me laugh!"

His words enraged me, but I managed to force myself to stay calm. I knew anger would cloud my judgement. This was too important for me to throw away because I couldn't keep a handle on my temper. I had to stop this guy from finding Kyogre! I couldn't afford to lose this battle!

I just hoped Kiba could handle it…

* * *

**Author's Note**

**A quick return to the plot with this two part arc. I have to say, credit for the title "Great Paws of Fire" can't be given to me, it's actually the name of a Growlithe/Arcanine tribute page I came across while researching. I couldn't come up with anything as fantastic as that! :D**

**The 30th Chapter! Oh my Goodness! Never thought I'd get this far! ****Thanks to all my lovely readers and reviewers who have made this possible! **

**AmpharosLover666: MELOI has evolved, Aurora will be evolving soon, and well, Monty can't evolve. :D Elliot will be coming back soon, I think, somewhere in the next five chapters, I think. I've storyboarded his appearance, but he really can't come in any earlier than that...**

**xPikachu-Princessx: Aaaah, thank you very much! I loved your review! :D Yeah, Nikki and Jasmine REALLY aren't any good at the searching...currently they're somewhere just short of Oldale Town...**

**ParamoreDecoy: Thank you very much for the review! :D I think it'll be a welcome break for Sienna since she finally has a Pokemon that doesn't want to INJURE her for pleasure..**

**Anon: It'll be a LONG time before Jasmine and Nikki catch up...they're pretty clueless at the moment and out of their mind with worry, poor things... I think Elliot will be Sienna's new travelling partner, but I can reveal there will be a Pokemon Ranger friend in a few chapters. **

**Winter's Wrath: Yeah...Sienna is gonna have a total WHALE of a time...Not!**

**Anonymous: Ah yeah, there was a Sienna in one of the Pedestal chapters! It's a common name really. Ish. :D And as for her new Pokemon, just wait and see! :D**

**Anonymous: Yep, Elliot's coming up soon! :D :D I'm excited!**

**Thank you all again! Please R & R if you can! Thank you! ;)**


	31. Great Paws of Fire Part II

I tried to keep my voice calm, but commanding as the battle between Kiba and Butterfree began to get underway. I tried to give Kiba instructions, if possible, faster than the mysterious man. My chances of winning were slim at best; I knew that, but this was too important for me to lose! I _had _to win! Somehow!

"Kiba, use Bite, now!"

As the Butterfree swooped in to attack Kiba on a close range basis, Kiba leapt in and sunk his jaws into the Butterfree's fragile, delicate body. The Butterfree squealed loudly in pain and tried to shake the puppy Pokemon off, but he held fast.

"Butterfree, shake that thing _off_!" the man fumed.

Eventually, after much shaking and struggling, the Butterfree was able to knock Kiba off its body, but Kiba instantly leapt back at it with another Bite. The two Pokemon circled each other for a long time, exchanging moves every now and again but causing no real damage. Whilst I had my heart in my mouth through the whole ordeal, wondering if this little baby Growlithe could really handle it, the man started to look impatient and let out a haughty sigh.

"I've had enough of this! Butterfree, finish this with a Bug Buzz!"

"Kiba! Jump back!" I hollered out of habit as a safety precaution, but I couldn't help but think in horror "_Bug Buzz_? _What the hell is Bug Buzz?_"

I knew soon enough. Butterfree began flapping its powdery wings and then suddenly I felt strong vibrations emanate from it! Pulsating sound waves were suddenly being directed at us! Kiba who had jumped back behind me at my instruction whined sadly at the attack. As the waves hit me, I felt my body weaken. I looked at Kiba as the waves hit him too. His ears were flat against his head and his whole body seemed to droop. He let out a low whine of pain, his little face twisted.

"What the hell…is this…?" I murmured slowly as my body felt weak and unresponsive, like it didn't belong to me. Twinges of pain burst all over me, like I was being stabbed with a hundred tiny needles…

"Growl…" Kiba's voice came out in a mere rasp.

"Hmph," the man said in disdain, looking us up and down as my body slumped to the ground. "You sad little girl…you know nothing, _nothing _about why I'm here. Yes, I work for your father, but I'm not here to go after Kyogre, I assure you."

"_Not here for Kyogre?_" I hadn't suspected that all! My shock was so strong I could barely even get my next question out."Then…then why…are you here?"

"That, my dear, I'm afraid is none of your business…" he said, his eyes narrowing dangerously. "And I suggest if you see _any _of our people again, even if you do think it will intimidate them, don't be so quick to reveal you are the daughter of Cal Volbeda…"

His words confused me. "Wh…why?"

"His name is mud amongst us."

"Wh…what?" I gasped in shock. "But…but you work for him!"

"That may be…" the man scoffed, crossing his arms. "But things aren't always as black and white as you think. Now, I'll admit, you're a smart girl to figure out what our group is doing…you were there when the Groudon incident went horribly wrong, weren't you?"

I found myself nodding.

"I thought so." He said coolly. "I knew who you were as soon as I saw you standing on Jagged Pass. The resemblance was uncanny. The look on Cal's face was a bit of a giveaway as well. He was most shocked to see you there,"

"I'll bet," I said darkly. "But where—?"

"It is not my place to tell you where your father is, _or _what he is doing," he added when I opened my mouth again. "But let me assure you, the ideas you have about your father's involvement in this are _way _off. Now, it is true that we attempted to capture Groudon and we do desire Kyogre, but they are only minor pawns in this game. Our sights are set on a much more…impressive… prize."

"What…?" I murmured softly.

A cold sneer appeared on the man's face as I looked up. My body was still weak and unresponsive. I could barely move, Kiba could barely move…but I was too interested in what this man was saying to care.

"But why…but why are you telling _me _this?"

The man chuckled and shrugged. "You have one of those faces. The kind of face people like to talk to," he said flippantly. Then he became more serious. "Besides, you _are _his daughter. I suppose you do deserve to know a little about what your father's been doing. Especially after all we put you through. You know, being shoved underground like that…"

I thought I heard a tiny bit of pity in his voice there, but I must have been imagining it.

"Anyway, it's not like you could _stop _us. You're just a little girl. Cal Volbeda's daughter or not, you're not much of a challenge. You want my advice, kid?"

I didn't, but he carried on anyway.

"Keep your nose out of this business. You ever hear of "them that dance with the devil are bound to get scorched"? Well, that's what will happen if you persist in this useless endeavour. You cannot change anything. It's not as if we don't have enough trouble with other meddlers without _you _sticking your nose in where it doesn't belong."

"Wait, what?" Something there caught my interest. "Other…meddlers?"

"Oh yes…" an annoyed look spread across his face. "It seems we cannot make a movement without some band of righteous do-gooders somehow predicting what we are doing and attempting to stop us! It was because of them we lost Groudon!" he then slowly turned to me. "I don't suppose _you _would no anything about that, would you?"

Without even thinking, I replied. "Yeah…" I said firmly. "They're coming to Sootopolis to stop you from getting anywhere _near _Kyogre!"

"As I suspected…" the man let out a sigh. "They seem to always be one step ahead of us. No matter." He shrugged. "They won't be able to stop us…"

"Yes, they will!" I shouted. "I'll make sure they will! I'll find my mother and I'll make sure they know all about your crazy schemes!"

A look passed across the man's face that I could not recognise. He slowly turned around to face me. "Your…mother? Is that what you said?"

I instantly recognised my mistake. What had I just told him that held so much significance? I tried to remedy the situation, but it was too late.

"You mean to tell me that it is your mother, Cal Volbeda's _wife _that heads the counter attack?"

"I…" I faltered. "I don't _know _for sure…but she is involved! I know she is!"

"Then you must tell me everything you know!" the man snapped, his face suddenly so close to mine that I jumped. I could hear Kiba growling in the background, but the two of us could still hardly move.

I gabbled uselessly, my mouth opening and closing like a Magikarp. "I…"

"Tell me!" he bellowed.

Something snapped. "No!" I shouted back, straight in his face. "I won't tell you anything!"

"Tell me what you know, girl!" he snarled.

"I don't _know _anything!" I tried a different tactic. "All I know is that my mum was with some people in the Lavaridge Pokemon mart right after Groudon appeared and they said they were going to Sootopolis! That's _all _I know!"

The man let out a roar of outrage. "So _that's _it, is it?"

I didn't know what I had inadvertently told this man. My head was swimming with all the confusing things he was coming out with. I didn't know what to do! Had I just given away something really important to him?

"What are you going to—?"

"None of your business, kid!" he suddenly spat. "Butterfree, let's use Sleep Powder and have done with this now!"

"No!" I screamed in outrage. This was too important! I couldn't let myself be put to sleep by that stupid Butterfree of his! I couldn't let him get away! "Kiba! Help me!"

"Free! Free!" the noise of the Butterfree's wings flapping filled me with horror and soon I saw those telltale white sparkles come drifting near me. I tried to get out of the way, but my body was still so sluggish and unresponsive I could barely even crawl on my hands and knees.

"Kiba!" I screeched as the white particles engulfed me. Within moments I could already feel my body becoming groggy and my vision darken and blur. "Ki…ba?"

My body slumped to the ground. I could feel sleep coming for me, but I fought it off with every particle of strength I had. "Ki…ba…? Hel…p…me…You have to…stop…him…"

"This is pathetic. Butterfree, use Gust on that Growlithe and let's move. Now!"

"Groooooowl!" I felt an almighty rush of wind swoop past me, blowing some of the particles of Sleep Powder away from me, and then I heard a whine of pain from Kiba who probably couldn't even move to get away from the attack.

I felt tears of frustration prick at my heavy eyes. Poor Kiba was getting pummelled by that man's Butterfree and I couldn't do anything to stop it _or_ the man! He was going to get away! He was going to get away and I was powerless to stop him! I hated that! And I hated it even more that I had unwittingly given him information that he wanted…

I had to stop him somehow…

But I could barely even lift my own head.

"Butterfree! Use Psybeam!"

I was too weak to even orally protest. Instead I screamed in my head "_No! Kiba_!"

I waited for Kiba's roar of pain that came from the powerful psychic attack, but none came. Instead, all I heard was a roar of sheer defiance and then I felt a blast of incredible fiery heat. I could not even open my eyes to locate the source. All I knew was that intense heat, the shouts of the mysterious man, the frantic cries of his Butterfree, and then darkness took me away as the sleep powder finally got the better of me…

* * *

_What I feel is something like a great sense of release…_

_The darkness melts into familiar surroundings…_

…

_I am standing outside my father's dojo. _

_He stands opposite me, a Magnemite floating lazily around his head. I look nervously to the side at the Geodude standing passionlessly next to me. _

_My father is speaking to me, but I can barely hear him. My nerves are stretched so tightly that I fear they will snap at the least little aggravation. _

"_I'm glad you finally gave in." I can hear him say. "This training will do you good."_

_For a minute I wonder what the hell has possessed me to do this. Why am I standing on the end of a battlefield, with a Geodude that doesn't even belong to me, trying to make my father happy? I can't battle! I don't know how to! I'm scared… I don't like it at all! I don't want to do this!_

_But then I think about what it would be like to finally make my dad happy for once. To finally gain his approval…to be the daughter that he wants. _

_This is why, only a few weeks after the new trainers my age left on their journeys I finally give in and agree to try and work with Pokemon. _

_The Geodude I have on-loan is bred from two of my father's prized Golem and it scares me. I have been with it for two days and I know nothing about it, apart from the fact I hate it and I'm pretty sure it hates me. I don't like the way it moves or the way it turns to glare at me every now and again. _

"_This should be easy even for you," my dad says rather impatiently, giving Magnemite the instruction to move into the arena. "Rock types like that Geodude there have the advantage against Electric types."_

"_Uh-huh…" I nod like I know, but the information is lost on my unwilling ten year old brain. "So…so what do I do?"_

"_What do you mean "what do you do"?" My father snaps, making me wince. "Make it attack!"_

"_H…how?"_

"_HOW!" he shouts in genuine disbelief. "You _order_ it to attack!"_

"_But…but I don't know what moves Geodude _has_…" I correct myself softly. _

"_You don't know what moves it has…" he repeats slowly. "How long have you been with it? How long have you seen me battling with it and other Geodudes? And you're telling me you don't know what moves it has…"_

_I have to shake my head. _

_He lets out a sigh of exasperation and begins reeling off all these names of moves. He speaks so fast I am only able to remember one. Rock Throw. _

"_So, what are you waiting for?" he demands, making me jump. "Attack!"_

_I look nervously at this Geodude once more. My tiny body is filled with so much fear and every part of me wants to just get up and leave. I can't do this! I hate these Pokemon…I don't want to _be _a trainer! I never want to be a trainer! I hate my dad for making me feel so guilty that I feel I _have _to do this to make him happy. _

_And I hate the fact some part of me _wants _his approval. _

"_G…Geodude…" I say nervously, completely unsure of this situation. "Use…Rock Throw?"_

_The Geodude does nothing. _

_My dad does plenty. "Sienna! That's not the attitude to have! You have to show that Pokemon that _you're_the boss and it _has _to listen to you! Don't be so wimpy! Act like you're the one in charge and it'll listen to you!"_

_I swallow and then try again. "Geodude! Use Rock Throw!"_

_I know my voice sounds more confident but it has no effect. The Geodude still remains completely still. My father sighs loudly. "Hopeless…" he mutters under his breath. _

_It is loud enough for me to hear and I deflate. _

"_Cal?" I hear my mother come out of the house behind me. "Don't be so hard on her. She's never battled before. She doesn't even _want _to do this but she's doing it to make _you _happy. Give her a break."_

"_Stay out of this, Suzanne." My father says icily._

"_I will _not _stay out of it." She says defiantly. "That Geodude is _your _Pokemon. Of course it won't listen to someone who's never even battled before in her life. In fact, I disapprove of this whole thing. Sienna doesn't _want _to be a trainer and I don't think you should make her."_

"_No daughter of mine will sit around the house doing nothing when she could be out there becoming a strong trainer!" my father bellows. _

_My mother glares at him and stomps back inside the house, muttering something about "if I stay out here any longer I'll do something I regret" and slams the door behind her. I wish she hadn't gone. She was the only one who could stop my dad when he was in a temper. _

"_Again, Sienna!" he barks. "Try it again!"_

"_Geodude!" I squeak before I even know what I'm doing. "Use Rock Throw!"_

_I should have seen it coming. A little ten year old girl who holds no interest in Pokemon attempting to order around a high level Geodude she's only known for two days…It was the most obvious thing in the world…_

_But I still didn't see the attack coming. _

_Pain. Screams that were not mine. Screams that _were _mine. And blood. Lots of blood. _

_And through my hazy vision, in the distance I see my father standing still, expressionless and stoic. He turns and walks away. _

_As I am carried into the house, I make a pledge through my blood and tears. _

_I will never be a Pokemon Trainer. _

* * *

**Author's Note**

**And we end this arc on a bit of backstory! On the suggestion of Masu Trout, I've filled in a few holes in Sienna's past, so here we go! And in case anyone wonders, the flashback is meant to be in the present tense. It's the way I do flashbacks... :D**

**Also, this will be my last update for a while. I'm moving on Friday, so internet access will be sparse at best till I get settled in at uni. I'll keep writing the story though, so I can update as soon as I can! **

**Mystery Umbreon: Hope I explained your questions well enough in the PM! :D**

**Kai-chan: I know, a lot of stuff in the last chapter doesn't get explained until this chapter or even the next one, so I'm really sorry about that...**

**Anonymous: Yeah...Flaaffy is pink... :( Aww, really? Thank you so much! :D Haha! Well, I have decided what Pokemon the ranger will have. Not an electric type I'm afraid. Sorry...and as for a sequel...well, I don't really know. I've got the story planned up right to the Epilogue so a sequel really isn't on the cards right now. But never say "never"! If there's enough demand, I may do a spin off of like what Jasmine and Nikki got up to whilst Sienna was gone, or some one-shots or maybe a sequel. But like I said, only if there's a high enough demand.**

**Winter's Wrath: Haha! I went through so many nicknames for Kiba, but none of them seemed to fit, really. Not when he was a Growlithe anyway... :D**

**xPikachu-Princessx: Sienna doesn't want to endanger her friends anymore so she left. She wants to lay low so no-one will recognse her so she can STAY hidden. She's afraid that if she stays in one place too long, people will notice her and that means if anyone (Nikki and Jasmine) asks about her, they will be able to identify her and say "Oh yes, I saw her here..." etc etc. **

**Gold Forever: Yeah, it is a little difficult to get accustomed to it just being Sienna... Nikki and Jasmine WILL be coming back, but since Sienna is going through so much turmoil and depression and has such a big character shift, it just seems more natural that she WOULD break away. Also, focusing on just Sienna means you can understand more about her and why she feels the way she does. It also makes it easier to advance her relationship with Elliot too when the time comes and to do plotty stuff. **

**Chaison: Yes, Meloi evolved! It was way overdue! Haha! Yes, Aurora will have to evolve soon too, I think...I'll try and keep her as Spheal for as long as possible...**

**Well, that's it for just now. Moving in to uni on friday and I need the next few days for packing and stuff. I will be back soon though, so until next time!**

**Please R & R if you can!**


	32. Memory's Caged Bird Flies

I woke to darkness and a rush of memories. Everything went through my brain in merciless floods; I could not stop the memories…the severity of the somewhat familiar images and the suddenness of their return…my heart twisted painfully and the tears started.

All the horrible feelings I had endured the past four months, those feelings of loneliness, regret, confusion erupted in one horrible burst and I cried and cried as the bitterness swamped me. Everything I had held on to, all those feelings of confusion about what was going on, the feelings of loneliness and helplessness I got from being on my own for so long, the anger I felt for not being able to stop that man…the sheer gravity of the situation I was in…they all overwhelmed me. With those horrible memories circling my brain, the hold I had on my emotions broke. I sobbed until my heart was sore and I had no more tears left.

I eventually was able to stop. I had to admit, I felt better even thought that dream – that memory – was still so fresh in my mind. I guess it was my own fault. I had stubbornly held on to every feeling I had come up against and buried them away. Every feeling of helplessness, confusion, hatred, sadness…I had stored them away and ignored them. It was inevitable it would eventually spill over…and at least now, it had. I felt a great sense of relief…although the upset had done nothing to actually _solve _any of the problems I had, it had at least cleared my head a little. I could accept all those things a little more.

Only problem was now that with my mind cleared of all those other thoughts, I couldn't get that memory of my childhood out of my head.

It was a memory I had long blocked out, forgotten, locked away in some dark part of my mind. The memories of my first disastrous attempts at training…Memories that were buried so deeply not even setting out on my own and training for real could dredge up…

I guess I kinda owe you all an explanation, huh?

Well, as you've probably guessed, I blocked out those memories when I was younger. Remember what I said about when I told my dad I didn't want to be a Pokemon trainer? Well, after Dad's outrage at that, my ten year old brain somehow blocked it all out. But now, somehow…the memories had dislodged themselves and I remembered clear as day.

My dad was so angry at my refusal to become a trainer. He nagged me, and badgered me, bribed me, blackmailed me, even threatened to send me away to a trainer's school if I didn't do what he said. Eventually, he wore me down. Partly because I wanted to shut him up and partly because some part of me still yearned for his approval…

He gave me a Geodude and told me to start training it. I wasn't expected to leave home and start training, which was a miracle but I _was _expected to take the thing as my own and train it. I hated every minute of it. I didn't know the slightest thing about Pokemon training and I was lucky if the thing obeyed one in twenty or thirty instructions I gave him. I spent the two days I had with it just trying to keep on its good side, and when my dad sprung a surprise battle on me, it was no surprise it didn't listen to me. Even worse, after I attempted to make it listen to me…it turned on me.

It attacked me. I could remember it so clearly now. It hit me so hard with the Rock Throw attack that I was almost knocked unconscious. I was so scared and in so much pain. My father, well…the one thing that really stuck out in my memory of him on that day was the image of him turning away from me looking so disappointed as I lay there bleeding and bleeding…

That was what made me decide I wasn't going to become a trainer. I blamed my father for the attack. Yet another reason why my hatred of him grew. I decided then that I would never let him control my life again. I would never let him dictate what I could and couldn't do. So even though life with my father was horrendous and I hated every minute of it, and the prospect of training meant I could get away from him, I still stubbornly refused to give in to him again. I would never live my life to please him again.

I never got a chance either. He left only a year or so later.

I shook my head firmly. What was I doing, thinking these bizarre thoughts! What had suddenly made these memories come back! I hated revisiting them. My hand reached to my face and my fingers lightly brushed over my skin, as if I was searching for scars, but I couldn't feel anything.

Instead, I furiously wiped my tears. What was I doing hanging around here crying my eyes out just because I remembered something that happened a long time ago? A murmur from something near to me took my attention and I saw Kiba curled up in a ball next to me. He had been asleep but as soon as I stirred, he woke up and launched himself at me, soaking my face with that tongue of his.

"Hey, Kiba…" I murmured, finding myself burying my face in his soft fur once I eventually prised him off me.

I remembered what had happened. I had told that man that my mother seemed to be the leader of the group that were attempting to stop them. I hadn't even been sure they were the group he was referring to, but I said it anyway… The man had looked so annoyed when he made the connection that it was my dad's _wife _leading the opposition against them. What had I inadvertently told him!

I remembered his Butterfree using Sleep Powder…I had begged Kiba to help me as I had felt sleep come for me…then as I fell asleep I heard the cries of the Butterfree and I felt a blast of intense heat coming from Kiba…

"Kiba…did you use…a Fire attack?"

"Growl! Growl!" he yipped.

I assumed that was a yes. "So…you _can _use a Fire attack now?"

He drooped slightly. "Growl…"

I was confused. "What does that mean?"

"Growl! Growl! Grow_lithe_!" he insisted vehemently.

"Okay, okay," I tried a new tactic. "Let's try this. Say "Growl" when you mean "yes" and "Growlithe" for "no", okay?"

He said nothing just lolled his tongue out and bared his teeth.

"Okay, did you use a Fire attack when that man was getting away?"

"Growl!"

"Really?" I gasped. "That's incredible! Can you do it again?"

"Growl…ithe…" he whined sadly.

"Oh…" I said disappointed. "But oh well, never mind. So, did you see where that man went?"

"Growlithe…" his ears drooped.

"Oh…you fell asleep too then, huh?"

"Growl…"

"Oh, well. No big deal," I ruffled his fur. "Somehow I don't think he's going to go after Kyogre now…I mean, what was it he said? He wasn't even here for that…and after what I told him…I could imagine he's long gone back to wherever it is he comes from…"

But there were even more confusing things I had to think about. My head started swimming even before I started. Perhaps the strangest was…

"…_even if you do think it will intimidate them, don't be so quick to reveal you are the daughter of Cal Volbeda…_"

I cringed inwardly as I thought of that. Why did I think it would make a difference telling him I was his boss's daughter? I felt so stupid…it had almost killed me to act like I was _proud _to be his daughter…the words had been like poison on my lips. I shuddered even now. I swore that I would never do that again. How foolish of me to think that mouthing off about who my father was would _intimidate _anyone…especially now that there seemed to be such hatred towards him from the people that worked for him…

I wondered why they seemed to hate him so much…

I forced myself to stop thinking about it. There wasn't anything I could do about it. I didn't know why they seemed to hate my dad. I didn't know where that man had gone, even though I doubted now it was back to Sootopolis. I didn't know _why _he had been here in the first place. And I guess I would just have to deal with the fact I could have given away some important information to him…

There was nothing I could do.

Sighing, I stood up. It was absolutely pitch black. How long had I been asleep? I didn't know completely. I stretched my stiff body, suddenly feeling wide awake and refreshed, despite everything…

"_Maybe I _should _get a Bug Pokemon that knows Sleep Powder…I'd never have a bad night's sleep again," _I thought to myself.

Kiba yipped happily at my side. He too was well rested and raring to go, but there was nothing we could _do _to stave off the boredom.

I thought about it for a moment before I found myself releasing Meloi, Aurora and Monty out of their Pokeballs to check how they were. Meloi was in a right state, working herself into a temper as she was still bound up by the remains of the string shot and Aurora was completely out of it from the poison. Monty was the only one who seemed more or less okay, but he eyed Kiba with a fierce glare to warn him off. Kiba barked happily in the face of all these new companions, but Meloi and Aurora were too injured to notice and the only one who wasn't simply hissed loudly at the little puppy. Kiba misinterpreted Monty's annoyance and instead threw himself bodily at the classy cat, smothering him in eager licks.

"MRRRROW!" Monty hissed and bit down hard into Kiba's little body.

"Grooooowl!" Growlithe winced in pain at first, but then seemed to think it was all a game and responded by biting Monty right back.

Two seconds later, all I saw was a mass of scrabbling, hissing, biting orange and white fur rolling around in front of me, yowling and barking so loudly that I feared they would wake the dead!

"All right, you two, enough!" I bellowed, but the instruction went unheeded.

I swore, whipped out both Kiba and Monty's Pokeballs and returned the scrapping duo out of harm's way. Then I turned to look at Aurora and Meloi who were both weak and still suffering from the battle earlier on. Deciding that I couldn't leave Aurora to the mercy of the Poison coursing through her, I recalled her too.

"Flaaff! Flaaf_fy_!" Meloi huffed miserably, her little pink body still caught up in the sticky string shot from that man's Butterfree.

"Okay, okay, you too." I sighed, recalling her too.

Replacing all four Pokeballs on my belt and heading in the direction of the local Pokemon Centre, I took a moment to reflect on things. Not about my mum or my dad, or Kyogre or Groudon, or even the mysterious man…

I thought about Meloi. I still wasn't used to seeing her as a Flaaffy even though she had evolved a long time ago…not long after I left Nikki and Jasmine behind. I have to admit I had reservations to say the least. In fact, I was still totally opposed to it. When it happened, I felt a peculiar mix of sadness to see Meloi change so much and excitement in the knowledge that she was stronger than she'd ever been before…

I had no right to complain. Meloi hadn't wanted to evolve, evidently shown in the fact that even though Mareeps were supposed to evolve at level fifteen, Meloi didn't evolve until she was level twenty at least. Once she finally understood why we had left Nikki and Jasmine and after I explained to her that the training was going to be tough so we could get strong, something seemed to change in her. Then, after winning her next battle later on in the day, all of a sudden she was enveloped in white light and her form changed, revealing a completely different Pokemon! I was stunned, so shocked I couldn't even do anything…

I knew why she did it. I'm almost certain that she did it for me. Why else would she evolve if she hated the idea of it so much? I can't exactly _ask_ her why she did it, even if I could understand what she was saying, I doubt she would be truthful anyway. I somehow knew though, that she had chosen to evolve to help me get stronger so I could find my father and stop him. My heart swelled with pride and happiness to know that Meloi really did care about me…so much so that she would even evolve if she thought it would help.

Pushing those thoughts, all thoughts, from my head, I entered the Lilycove Pokemon Centre. I tried to be nonchalant about the fact I was strolling in to a Pokemon Centre at four o'clock in the morning. I remembered how Elliot had just casually strolled in to the Pokemon Centre in Pewter City when I had first met him, and tried to imitate that same kind of strange casual swagger. Wordlessly I handed my Pokeballs over to the Nurse Joy, flashing her a quick smile to make sure she didn't think I was totally unmannerly and turned away.

A thought struck me. "_Elliot…_"

Without even thinking, I found myself sitting at the computer screen. I pulled up the Elite Four Challenge website. As soon as it came up I was faced with a huge header at the top of the web page.

"_Elite Four Challenge Remains Unbeaten for Third Year in a Row!"_

"Oh no…" I whispered sadly. "Elliot…"

He hadn't beaten the Elite Four…I felt like I wanted to cry.

I found that the website had a dedicated space called "Challenger Corner" where they documented each trainer's attempt, including pictures, statistics and even battle videos. There were hundreds of entries in the Challenger Corner, but after much searching, I finally found Elliot Wood's entry.

The page held a lot of detailed information, including his trainer card photo, (my heart leapt a little when I saw his face again…), breakdown of his team, (I didn't really notice that…) and the statistics of how his battle went. That was what I wanted.

First thing I was faced with was a line of text telling me that Elliot had reached the fourth stage of the Elite Four. The last hurdle before the champion. He was one of the few that had reached that far, but he had been overwhelmed, almost instantly defeated when he reached the fourth Elite Four member, the Dragon master Lance.

"_Poor Elliot…" _I thought to myself. "_To be so close and yet so far…it must be crushing…and to fall against a Dragon type master…wow. But isn't that the type of Pokemon his brother loves?" _I remembered Elliot telling me something about how his brother was a "Dragon type nut"…that must have been a hard pill to swallow…

I decided to watch the battle video they had of Elliot. The video was expertly shot, allowing for a full view of the field and the challenger and Elite Four member and their Pokemon. Although I didn't recognise most of the Pokemon Elliot had apart from his prized Jet and a Mightyena, I was able to gather the species names from the cries the Pokemon displayed. I deduced finally his team was Jet the Umbreon, plus Pokemon called Cacturne, Tropius, Mightyena, Roserade and Carnivine.

Elliot was a fantastic battler. He was stronger than even I could give him credit for. I was literally at the edge of my seat, my heart pounding as I watched Elliot execute a string of perfect moves, completely devastating the first three Elite Four members. But then, when it moved on to the fourth member and Elliot was faced with the Dragon Master Lance, he completely crumbled. I had to admit, the fourth member looked intimidating and even scary in some lights with that shock of red spiky hair and billowing black cloak, but just at the sight of him, Elliot went to pieces. His face was pale and sweaty and as he exchanged hushed words with Lance that weren't picked up on the sound properly, I could see his hands trembling and his eyes wide with what anyone would have said was fear.

Fear, not nervousness.

He proceeded to be completely overwhelmed and lost the battle against Lance in only seven short minutes.

I couldn't watch as Elliot was devastated so easily by Lance. As he dejectedly admitted defeat and flashed one last glance in the direction of the Dragon Master, he turned to face the camera once again. I gasped.

He was smiling, but his face was streaked with fresh tears.

Then the video ended.

"Elliot…" I said softly to myself.

"Excuse me?" I heard Nurse Joy's voice and I turned to see her standing next to me, holding my four Pokeballs. "Your team is ready."

"Oh…thank you," I said, trying to sound upbeat, but failing miserably.

I took the Pokeballs, sighed one last time and left the Pokemon Centre.

* * *

I spent the rest of the night introducing Kiba properly to my newly healed team. Whilst Monty treated Kiba with the exact same standoffish nature and Meloi wasn't overly fussed, it was Aurora who took a shine to Kiba. She would not leave his side the whole night, forever cuddling up to him and playing with him. I found it heart-warming to watch, but my mind was still preoccupied with other things.

Whilst I was upset about Elliot and wished I could find him and see how he was doing, I knew I had to go back to Sootopolis. Whether or not that guy was telling the truth about not going after Kyogre, I had to be there just in case.

There was another issue I had to address though before I could go back. Even though I had done all this training and my Pokemon were far stronger than they had been before, I had still been no match for that man and his Pokemon. His team of _two _Pokemon. Even after all my training I had still been totally defeated by a man with two Pokemon. With a team of four, no matter how strong they were, I was still wide open to too many weaknesses.

My next move was obvious.

I had to capture new Pokemon.

* * *

**Author's Note**

**Wow. I am so sorry for the wait! I've been at uni for three weeks now and I honestly just have not had the time I would've liked to update or even write any more of this story! This chapterwas already written, so hopefully this'll show that I AM still alive and now that everything's calming down, I should be able to devote more time to this! **

**Uni by the way for anyone who's interested, is fab-u-lous! Seriously, it was the best desicion I ever made to come here. The people are so fantastic and the whole atmosphere is just... it's just amazing, really. Anyone who can get the opportunity to go to university or college or whatever, do it. Seriously. You won't regret it. **

**Anyway, on to business. I can't thank and reply to everyone's comments and questions personally this time as I have to run for a lecture starting shortly, but I just want to say very generally, thank you all for your patience and your continued dedication to this story! I am so happy! :) **

**Well, y'all know the drill. Read and review if you can! **

**Thank you!**


	33. Author's Note

Author's Note

I just have to say, apologies for those who may have gotten excited for a new chapter, this isn't a new update for the story obviously, just a quick apologetic note for my severe lack of updates the past two months. Unfortunately, uni has just been sooooo busy I can't find the time to write anything! I have two 2000 word essays due in for the 6th and a Psychology exam on the 7th of December, BUT after that, I am home free! Hopefully as I will then officially be on holiday, the updates should come!

I feel so awful for not finding the time to write Spirited _or _Opposites Attract, but the Christmas break should allow me ample time to catch up. I know doing this has probably lost me a lot of readers and I can only say sorry for my slacking off.

Please expect to see updates soon.


	34. Evil, Thy Name is Safari Zone

As soon as the morning hit, I found myself standing outside the Safari Zone near Lilycove City. I had heard many rumours of a place that trainers could go to capture rare Pokemon that couldn't be found anywhere else in Hoenn. The idea intrigued me, especially if it meant it was likely that I could find really rare, probably really strong Pokemon just waiting for me!

I didn't think anything of it as I read the flyer. It seemed like all in all, just a little bit of hacking through grass and weeds looking for Pokemon. Nothing I wasn't used to. I had just spent the past four months trekking through some of the worst terrain I had seen in my life. I could handle pretty much _anything _the Safari Zone had to offer me.

Holy hell, was I wrong.

First off, you had to pay a horribly extortionate fee to even get _in _to the bloody place and I grudged every penny of my hard earned money that I reluctantly shelled out. Then, you had your Pokeballs unceremoniously grabbed from you, and then told that you weren't permitted to take Pokemon into the Safari Zone because you weren't allowed to battle the wild Pokemon. I was in shock. How on earth were we supposed to defend ourselves if a Pokemon went on the rampage? To my horror, the man staffing the desk just shrugged and said that was a risk taken by the customers. I was so stunned I couldn't even argue as a bag full of special Pokeballs was thrust at me and I was forcibly ushered outside.

Faced with a huge open expanse of hills and grass and trees, I could only gape at my new surroundings. The man who had pushed me outside explained in a thoroughly bored tone of voice that my time in the Safari Zone would only last until I used up all thirty Pokeballs they had supplied me with, then I would be "ejected" from the premises. I didn't like the sound of that at all.

The man disappeared almost immediately after giving me those limited instructions, leaving me alone in this massive expanse of mismatched terrains. At first, I thought I was all alone in this intimidating place, but then two seconds later I saw a gaggle of trainers running around in the tall, wild grass way off in the distance. I looked at the thirty Pokeballs I had been given and frowned. At first I had been optimistic, but now common sense kicked in. Thirty Pokeballs sounds like a lot, but considering the fact they were single use only (if they didn't work the first time, they were useless), my optimism deflated. Even worse, I couldn't _weaken _the Pokemon beforehand. I foresaw a lot of wasted Pokeballs. Suddenly thirty Pokeballs didn't sound like such a big number anymore…

I thought about the poster I had seen pinned to the wall, boasting that the Hoenn Safari Zone supposedly contained rare Pokemon from _all _regions, having imported them from other Safari Zones. So I assumed that there would be a wide choice. Feeling quite eager to get going and see what awaited me in this idyllic setting (and because I was concerned for my own Pokemon's safety back in the hands of those idiots manning the desks) I set out for the nearest patch of tall grass, again thinking that this couldn't be_ that_ hard.

Again, I soon got the feeling I had no greater purpose in life than to serve as a plaything for the universe to screw around with…

Within two minutes, I discovered I hated the Safari Zone.

At first, there was no shortage of Pokemon running around. Although unfortunately, they weren't worth much. It was mostly Pidgey, Rattata and the likes and I ignored them. I wasn't interested in them, even though I knew Pidgey could evolve into really strong Pidgeot. I needed an already strong Pokemon to enhance my team! I already had Kiba to train right from the beginning; I didn't need to start training another Pokemon completely from scratch.

The first Pokemon I thought would make a good addition to my team was a strange black and white bird Pokemon that sat preening its feathers near the edge of a pond. My Pokedex identified it as a Staravia, a Pokemon native to a region called Sinnoh. Thinking eagerly to myself that a Flying type would make an excellent addition to my team, I began stealthily sneaking up to the Pokemon, hooking out a Safari Ball in the process. However as soon as the bird saw me, it freaked out, screeched, flew into the air, delivered a swift peck to the top of my head and flapped away into the trees. I was so shocked I couldn't even try and throw a Pokeball at it.

After a couple more similar incidents of Pokemon running away the second I got near them, I figured out that the Pokemon in the Safari Zone were just as wild as ones not kept in captivity. So I decided to be even stealthier, liking myself to some kind of ninja, but it didn't work. If anything, it made the Pokemon even more hostile and I ended up being chased halfway across to some god-forsaken-place that looked like a weird sort of rocky outcrop. It was there I discovered something else I hated about the Safari Zone: the other trainers.

During a rare stroke of luck, I was able to sneak up on a particularly oblivious Pokemon I identified as a Taillow. Although the Pokemon looked to be quite weak initially, I was too overcome by the excitement of actually possibly being able to _capture _something without it flying away or attacking me or _both. _So, there I was, sneaking up on the little bird inch by inch, hardly even daring to breathe… I took aim with the Pokeball, got ready to let it loose and… disaster.

I took one extra step further and then all of a sudden the sky was blotted out with the shadows of Pokeballs. I took one look at this armada of flying projectiles, lost my head, shrieked and dove to the ground as the Pokeballs rained down like tiny cannonballs. As soon as I was certain it was safe, I whipped my head up only to be faced with an entourage of young trainers. Whilst several of them looked disappointed, a few had looks of pure rage etched all over their faces, and one single boy had a look of glee as he danced around, showing off a Pokeball. There was no sign of the Taillow. I snarled to myself. That boy obviously had caught the Taillow. The Taillow _I _wanted and I'm pretty sure every single trainer that was nearby wanted.

Whilst the other trainers were content with showing good sportsmanship, I was not. I was tired, harassed and really fed up. I'd been here for the better part of two hours and I'd caught _nothing_! And I'd really wanted to capture that Taillow for myself.

"Hey!" I jumped to my feet and challenged the boy straight away. "That was _my _Taillow!"

"Was not!" he countered at once.

"I saw it first!" I found myself insisting childishly.

"Well _I _caught it!" he shouted, proudly displaying his new catch as his friends nodded in agreement. "And you didn't! So there!" he added, sticking his tongue out at me for good measure.

Shocked at the little brat's behaviour, I found I couldn't even respond. Even still, I couldn't really argue with his logic. Knowing I couldn't really continue the argument without looking like a total fool, I compensated by letting out a vicious haughty sigh, turning on my heel and stomping off, trying to ignore his taunts as I went with as much dignity as I could muster.

"Cheeky little brat!" I spat as soon as I was out of earshot. "That was _so _my Taillow! Stupid trainers! Wish none of them were here!"

The day didn't get better. I saw at _least _four Pokemon I had my eye on disappear from my grasp right in front of me and my temper grew steadily worse and worse. It soon got to the point that I couldn't even get within ten feet of a promising Pokemon without another barrage of trainers showing up to stick their oars in. As the day started to wear on, I was tried, sweaty, extremely hacked off and worst of all, luckless.

I decided to try my luck in the less populated areas of the Safari Zone, the rocky outcrops and sandy desert areas. I started off with good intentions regarding the rocky area, but as soon as I saw a pack of Golem and Graveller having what looked like an all out war there, I ran away! I was already apprehensive anyway considering there was one trainer there eagerly waiting and egging on the fight, as if he was waiting to see which one would be the eventual victor or something… I wasn't sticking around to deal with that!

I honestly thought I would have more luck in the desert area. As I surveyed the expanses of golden brown sand, I half expected to see hundreds of Pokemon magically materialise in front of me, but of course that didn't happen. I reluctantly decided to head in further. I was worried about the amount of Ground Pokemon that were no doubt waiting for me in there, but considering I was having less than no luck anywhere else I didn't have much of a choice. Besides… it wasn't _just _Ground Pokemon that lived in there, right? There were lots of _other _types of Pokemon there…right?

I made my way gingerly through the empty desert. I walked for what must have felt like hours, but I suspect it only felt that way because of the sheer emptiness of the place. I picked my way across the soft sand, my feet sinking deep down into the grainy mess and I ended up wading, knee deep, across the deeper parts.

"Why am I doing this…?" I asked myself out loud. "This is insane."

Eventually, after sinking almost waist deep into a deceptively deep patch of sand, I decided to turn back. Cursing with every step, I forced myself forward, praying to every God in existence that a sandstorm or something wouldn't start up. Because that was the _last _thing I needed right now… I just wanted to get out.

But obviously, this is me. Nothing ever works out the way _I _want it to.

A few steps forward and all of a sudden I heard this almighty commotion. I stopped dead as the surrounding area was suddenly filled with the harsh cries of Pokemon. Immediately, I whipped around and was met with the image of three giant bird Pokemon with vicious long beaks swooping down to attack this tiny little orange insect like Pokemon. The little orange Pokemon that looked suspiciously like an ant was being dive-bombed by three giant, cawing Fearow!

The injustice of three such large powerful Pokemon picking on this tiny little defenceless looking ant like creature made me angry. I found myself feeling really sorry for the little thing. "Hey!" I found myself shouting at the three giant birds as they plummeted down on the little ant-like Pokemon. When they didn't pay any attention, it only riled me further. "HEY!"

Of course, they completely ignored me and continued to harass the little ant Pokemon. They had a vicious arsenal of attacks, including Drill Peck and Aerial Ace. Whilst the little ant Pokemon tried to valiantly fight them off, it couldn't stretch to anything more than a weak Sand Attack in a vain attempt to keep them at bay. The poor thing screeched in pain with each hit that those nasty Fearow landed on it.

"_How dare they pick on that poor little Pokemon_?" I thought to myself, enraged. I looked around me for something to chuck at the Fearow but finding nothing, I had to delve into my bag for a spare Pokeball. I knew there was no way on earth I would be able to capture the Fearow but at least I could _maybe _stop them from picking on that innocent little any Pokemon.

Of course, as always, there was no part of me that even _suggested _that it was a bad idea… More fool me…

"Hey, you! Get away from him!" I hollered, chucking my Pokeball with all my strength.

It sailed through the air and landed with a satisfying _bonk _right on one of the tiny heads of the Fearow. As I expected, the capture failed miserably and the stunned Fearow escaped from the ball immediately. I grinned in triumph as the other two birds stopped dead, trying to work out where the source of the projectile had come from. Even the little ant Pokemon looked surprised and began trying to source where the Pokeball had appeared from.

I took this opportunity to start backing away whilst the Fearows were preoccupied. The stupid birds were looking in the completely wrong direction so I eagerly turned around and made my escape.

Or so I thought…

Something grabbed me around the ankle and I went down, face first into the sandy ground. I jerked my head out of the sand, spitting giant wads of the grainy stuff out and whipped around to see the tiny ant Pokemon clutching on to my leg… If I had known better I would have said the thing was smiling…

"Get off me!" I hissed, suddenly conscious of the fact the birds were slowly growing angry nearby. I definitely did _not _want them to spot me… I'd really be in for it then…

"Traaaa!" It chirruped happily.

"Get off!" I repeated, trying to shake the thing off. "Let me go!"

It looked at me quizzically and held fast.

"Oh for the love of—" I said exasperated, reaching down to try and prise off its tiny claws from around my ankle.

"Pinch! Pinch!" it insisted childishly, refusing to let go.

"Let me go, you little—"

"ROW! FEAR-ROW!"

At the sound of those horrible, vulture like cries, I froze. The three giant Fearow turned to look at me, staring at me down their giant hooked beaks. They let out another fierce cry and then suddenly, flapped their impressively giant wings and ascended into the air! They were coming straight for me and the little ant Pokemon!

I screeched. The little ant Pokemon in its panic let go of my ankle and without even thinking what I was doing, I had scooped the little thing up and somehow gotten to my feet. Without even taking heed of the soft, slippery terrain, I bolted like a Rapidash.

I didn't get very far however before the Fearows swooped down on me and started to viciously peck the living hell out of me.

Dammit, I hated the Safari Zone!

* * *

"I can't believe this…" I scowled savagely as I hacked my way through a particularly grassy and overgrown area of the Safari Zone. "I can't catch _anything_!"

"Pinch? Trapinch?"

"Oh, shush!" I hissed at the little ant Pokemon trotting merrily behind me, not even bothered by the waist high plants and vines. "Why are you still following me?"

"Pinch! Pinch!" It chirruped happily as if it was oblivious to the savage beating I had just taken from that flock of Fearows. It was like it hadn't even _noticed _the attacks. Well I certainly had, I'll tell you that for free. I was covered in scratches, cuts and blobs of blood all courtesy of those viciously sharp and powerful claws and beaks. The little Pokemon following me toddled along unaware. He had avoided being hurt completely because of me. Somehow I had protected him from the Fearows and now I just couldn't get rid of him. He just seemed to want to follow me around like some lost Growlithe…

It was flattering; I guess… but however was not in the mood to be followed around by some strange little ant Pokemon. I had been inside this stupid Safari Zone for hours and what did I have to show for it? I was streaked with mud, grass and blood, covered in painful cuts and sores, exhausted, and extremely stressed and exasperated. And worst of all, I hadn't found _any _Pokemon to advance my team!

I found myself muttering this as I hacked my way through this overgrown jungle. "After all this I couldn't even find _any _Pokemon! All I have is this stupid little –OW!" I cursed as I snagged myself on some sort of snaky plant and then somehow ended up flat on my face.

"This is just _fabulous_!" I hissed, trying to disentangle myself from the snaky plant that had somehow now wound itself around my ankle. "Why can't I just…" I reached down to pull the viney thing off my ankle, but whatever I grasped suddenly wriggled at my touch. It was alive! "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!" I shrieked, tossing it aside.

"Bell! Sprout! Bellsprout!"

"Oh, thank God…" I sighed in relief. "It's only a Bellsprout…"

The Bellsprout looked at me long and hard, looking slightly annoyed at being thrown like it was a hot potato.

"What…?" I asked it huffily, getting to my feet.

It said nothing, just slowly moved forward towards me. I frowned, wondering what the hell it was doing. From next to me, the orange ant Pokemon surveyed the Bellsprout as I did. It slowly began to encircle me and the ant Pokemon, making a hypnotising noise.

I was not in the mood to deal with it though.

"Oh, go away!" I said sharply and strode straight past it.

"Sprout! Bell_sprout_!" It screeched and then suddenly I felt taut vines wrap around my ankles, rooting me completely to the spot. Mercifully, I didn't fall. Not this time, but it still freaked me out as I was suddenly caught and unable to move.

"What the hell!" I shouted at the offending Bellsprout. "Let me go!"

"Sprout! Bellsprout!"

"Oh, this is great…" I shook my head vehemently. "Why do I attract all the _weird _Pokemon and not the strong ones!" I glared at the Bellsprout hotly and then shot a look at the ant Pokemon next to me for good measure.

"Traaa…" It said sadly, drooping.

I sighed haughtily and then turned to the Bellsprout. "All right, listen. Just let me go, okay? I'm not kidding; I'm really not in the mood."

"Sprout…" it said darkly.

If I hadn't been on such a high horse I probably would have recognised a danger sign when I saw one. But I didn't and carried on blithely.

"Just let me go. I've got enough to worry about without you making it any more difficult."

"Sprout! Bellsprout!"

"Just let me _go_! Seriously!" I hissed at the Bellsprout.

"Sprout!" It snapped back. "Bell_sprout_!"

Then I noticed something in the corner of my eye. A collection of dark, blobby shapes congregating in the thick overgrowth on the horizon were slowly coming into my view. The little ant Pokemon to my side shuddered in its fright as the shapes moved closer. I found fear slowly creeping up my body like an icy poison, but I couldn't move! The Bellsprout still had a solid grip around my ankles and I was too scared to struggle in case I fell again! If I fell again, I was in serious trouble.

"What the hell…?" I gasped as the dark blurry shapes started to come closer.

"Weeep!"

"Victreeeee!"

"Oh no…" I gasped. "It's called its friends…"

And within two seconds the place was alive with the glowing, narrowed eyes of Victreebell and Weepingbell surrounding me and the ant Pokemon. The ant Pokemon screeched and huddled behind my legs, burying its face into the ground. I could only gape as they moved in closer and slowly began encircling me. I gave up on attempting to keep still and tried to wrench my ankles free from the Bellsprout's iron grip. It was useless. The Bellsprout held a maniacal look in its eye as it kept me tied right to the spot. I kept struggling on, praying that by some miracle I would be able to get free, but of course, I couldn't. Panic was rising in me and gripping me. I was trapped… there was no way out.

I looked at the murderous eyes of these Victreebell and Weepingbell.

What the hell were they going to do to me?

* * *

**Author's Note**

**Wow...finally updated.**

**I am so so sorry for making you all wait this long. I am hopeful that a few people have held out until I've gotten through uni, exams, essays and finally Christmas to get this update.**

**As I've said before, there will be some filler just character enhancing and team enhancing, plus some backstory and setting up for the climax of the story in the near future. I hope you're all still reading and still enjoying Spirited and updates will be coming MUCH more frequently.**

**Thank you all, and starting next chapter I will continue again with personally thanking everyone who takes the time to read and review.**

**Also, Happy New Year to you all! :)**

**:) :) 3**


	35. Impending Disaster

"_Okay… this isn't going to be _too _bad, surely_?" I tried to calm myself down and squash the terror that was rapidly growing as the Victreebell and Weepingbell grew ever closer to me, staring me down with their angry, narrowed eyes. "_They're just Weepingbell and Victreebell… they can't do anything _that _bad to me…can they?_"

"Weeping!"

"Victreeeee!"

All of a sudden, in scarily perfect synch, every single one of the Weepingbell and Victreebell let out screeching cries, drew back sharply and all expelled a cloud of sparkling white particles. It was like a huge ash cloud, like the dust kicked up from a massive explosion. This giant cloud of powder drifted lazily towards me and the little ant Pokemon, surrounding us in all directions. The thick white powder engulfed me and immediately my whole body was overcome with a deep sense of drowsiness.

"_Sleep powder!_" I thought, desperately trying to fight against the tiredness that was consuming my body.

Even through the exhaustion and the fact that I was on the brink of falling asleep where I stood, my hysterical, terrified mind still ran through a dozen bizarre scenarios. What were these Victreebell and Weepingbell going to do to me? Were they capturing me to… god forbid, _eat _me? Were Victreebell and Weepingbell even carnivores! Did they eat humans? I didn't know… I didn't even _want _to know.

"_Damn Sleep Powder,_" I thought as my vision blurred, my body became light and I became vaguely aware of the ground suddenly getting closer and closer to me. "_I don't want to die like _this!"

* * *

When I came to, all I could see was darkness.

I panicked at first and sat bolt upright, desperately squinting in the inky blackness, trying to make out something, _anything_.

"Traaaa?"

I almost shot six feet in the air when something moved right next to me, but as I discovered it was only the little ant Pokemon that had been my (annoying) companion for the past… God knows how long.

I ignored the little orange Pokemon who began chattering away, oblivious to the strangeness of the situation and instead focused on trying to figure out where I was. I was still outside, I knew that much from the cold wind that bit on my exposed skin, and the soft fronds of grass tickling my body. Everything was bathed in deep darkness and the sky overhead was dotted with a smattering of stars, so I knew it was late at night. 12:26 to be precise, once I checked my Pokegear. Using the flashlight from the Pokegear, I attempted to; literally, shed some light on the situation.

I let out a terrified scream as the Pokegear shone light on hundreds of silhouettes encircling me. The ant Pokemon beside me also let out a shriek and dove to safety, i.e. into my arms. In my panic I dropped my Pokegear and everything was again plunged into darkness. I heard the cries of the Victreebell and Weepingbell and I was too scared to even pick up my Pokegear to figure out where they were.

"Victree!"

"Weeep! Weeep!"

"Oh God!" I shuddered, clutching onto the ant Pokemon. Instinctively, my hand went to my waist where my Pokeballs _should _have been, but of course they weren't there! They were sitting idly back in the foyer of the Safari Zone! "_I hate the Safari Zone_!" I screamed in my head, wishing more than anything I had my own Pokemon to rescue me!

But wait… a thought struck me… did I really_ need_ to be rescued? No, of course I didn't! These were just Weepingbell and Victreebell after all; I had dealt with a _lot _worse! Besides I hadn't spent all this time _just _training my Pokemon! I'd spent it training my own body and training my own mind to be stronger, faster, more self sufficient! No, forget that damsel in distress attitude! I didn't need to be rescued! I could rescue myself!

Or so I thought…

Making sure I had a firm grip on the ant Pokemon, I jumped to my feet, grabbed my Pokegear and turned and ran in the first direction I thought of. The errant screams of the Victreebell and Weepingbell echoed around me like some ghastly choir, but I ran forward, pushing my way past anything and everything that came into my path.

However, I didn't get very far.

Vines suddenly appeared out of nowhere, wound themselves around my torso and legs and suctioned me straight to the spot. I let out a panicked scream, all bravado suddenly lost alongside my mobility. I twisted and struggled uselessly against the iron grip, trying to squint in the darkness to see the faces of my captors. The little ant Pokemon was squeaking in my arms, trying to get away too but it was hopeless.

"Oh God!" I said out loud, over and over to myself. "Oh God, oh God, oh God, oh _God_!"

"Tra! Tra! Trapinch!" The little ant Pokemon squealed.

"Victreee! Victreee!"

"Weep! Weep!"

Then I heard the unmistakable sounds of a Razor Leaf attack. But it wasn't just one Razor Leaf attack. It certainly didn't _sound _like one Razor Leaf attack. It sounded like They were going to attack us! I fought viciously against the tight grip of the vines, but it was useless. I could do nothing but hug that little ant Pokemon to me and try and brace the attack!

Just as I thought the impact was going to hit and I would be sliced to ribbons, a deep, sonorous voice rang out and echoed powerfully all around me. "ENOUGH!"

Before I knew fully what was happening, two dark silhouettes flashed before my eyes, one leaping to the front of me, another to the back. Suddenly the darkness was lit up with two walls of brilliant reflective blue light. I had to shield my eyes, so intolerably bright was the sudden flash of light, but I could just make out the shadow of a bipedal _something _in front of me. I heard a weird _twang _and ricocheting noise and I opened my eyes just in time to see hundreds of sharp leaves bounce off the protective barrier and fly off in all directions, slicing straight through plants and shrubs like they were nothing. Then suddenly, the silhouette behind me moved and let out a cry, and the place suddenly lit up again with light. Before my eyes the protective barriers disappeared, but the light remained and I was faced with a Pokemon…

An Alakazam.

The Alakazam drew itself up to its full height and suddenly, the same, disembodied voice boomed out all around us. "How dare you treat this girl with such hostility! I asked you to bring her here unharmed, not slice her apart with your attacks!"

Now, instead of the irate cries of "Weep!" or "Victreee!" I heard a gaggle of human voices, all speaking in English muttering and apologising profusely and humbly to this disembodied voice. I blinked in total surprise and then let out a screech as the figure from next to me nudged against my arm. I turned around and came face to face with the inquisitive face of a Girafarig. The little ant Pokemon in my arms squeaked as the Girafarig began circling me, looking me up and down inquisitively.

A second voice began to speak, this one softer, almost musical in tone and undoubtedly female. "She's still tied up. Please, release her!"

There was another soft murmur of voices and then almost immediately, the binds around me slackened and disappeared as the Victreebell and Weepingbell let me go. I stood in shock as the disembodied voice ordered the offending Pokemon to leave and they all filed away obediently, leaving just myself, the ant Pokemon, the Alakazam and the Girafarig alone. I was still terrified, wishing I knew where this voice was coming from.

The Alakazam looked at me and the voice rang out again. "Don't be afraid."

I blinked, still looking all around me for the source of the voice. Then suddenly, the Alakazam nudged me to get my attention. I looked down into its eyes. Wise, old eyes that held the shadows of hundreds of experiences…

"I'm down here, child," the voice said again.

I must have let out a scream that shook the entire forest.

"You…you talked!" I screamed at the Alakazam. "You can't talk! Pokemon can't _talk_!"

"Telepathy, that's all it is." The female voice spoke again.

"Who's that?" I whipped around in my panic.

"Me," the Girafarig stepped forward.

"YOU TALK TOO!" I shot backwards away from _both _the Alakazam and the Girafarig.

"Well, we don't literally _speak._" The Girafarig corrected herself and even as the voice carried on speaking, I noticed the fact that neither the Alakazam nor the Girafarig's mouths moved at all to coincide with the words. "My friend Alakazam here has the ability to create telepathic networks, allowing Pokemon and humans to speak on the same level."

"I apologise for the treatment you were given," Alakazam's voice was gruff; with an edge to it I wasn't sure I liked. It reminded me of a disgruntled old man. "When I asked for you to be brought here, I didn't imagine they would be so… rough."

"B…brought here?" I somehow managed to ask, still reeling at the fact that these Pokemon were somehow _speaking _to me.

"Yes," the Girafarig's voice was far sweeter and softer and I naturally trusted that much more. "We wanted to speak to you."

"Me?" I asked slowly. "What's so special about me?"

"We know of your involvement with the people that attempted to capture the Groudon," the Alakazam spoke again.

"What? No, I wasn't part of that! I didn't do anything wrong!" my automatic reaction was to deny any wrongdoing on my part, but then common sense kicked in. I looked at both Pokemon in confusion. "But…how do you know about it?"

"The attempted capture on Groudon did not go unnoticed in the Pokemon world," the Girafarig explained. "We Pokemon understand a lot more than the humans give us credit for. Even slight changes in the Earth's balance are apparent to us."

"Yes," the Alakazam said firmly.

I suddenly realised how bizarre this situation I was in actually was. I had just been captured by a bunch of Victreebell and Weepingbell and dragged along to speak with two telepathic Pokemon who seemed intent on discussing the attempts by my father and his weird group to capture the legendary Pokemon! Of all the situations I had been in so far, this one was definitely the weirdest.

"We have seen your efforts in attempting to protect the legendary Pokemon Groudon and also your endeavours to stop the group of people who desire those Pokemon," the Alakazam continued. "Your actions are commendable, especially concerning your relationship with the man in charge."

"Y… yeah…" I found myself inexplicably blushing slightly at this praise. "But how do you know all this?"

"We are psychics, Sienna. It is our job to know things others do not," the Girafarig told me with what anyone could have sworn was a wink.

"Tra!" the little ant Pokemon piped up. "Tra! Trapinch! Pinch! Pinch! Pinch!"

"Once again I praise my decision to leave _him _out of the psychic network…" the Alakazam muttered darkly, and then he spoke up again. "I understand you have been able to deduce from whatever investigations you have been doing that your father's organization now has their sights on Kyogre?"

"Yes…" I nodded, still barely able to get my head around this insane situation. How on earth were a bunch of Pokemon being able to speak to me across some psychic network and even more strange, _how _did they know all about me and what I'd been doing?

"And your mother's group are also striving to stop them?"

"I… I think so…" my head was beginning to swim. "But… but seriously, why am I here? Why did you bring me here?"

"To give you some information," the Girafarig told me. "Of course, everything we tell you has to be taken with a pinch of salt, as it were. Predicting the future is not an exact art, you understand. But this is information you need to know,"

"What is it?" I forgot my confusion for a second and asked eagerly. Was this for real? Was I just going to get information presented to me on a plate, important, priceless information?

"You probably already guessed this, but your father is planning an attack on Kyogre." Alakazam said solemnly.

"Yeah…" I said gravely. "I know that. I just wish I knew when…"

"Two weeks today."

I blinked. "What…?"

"In two weeks today, your father will arrive in Sootopolis and attempt to rouse Kyogre from its sleep. Only this time, unlike the failure of Groudon, your father will succeed."

"Succeed?" I whispered. "But how? How do you know this?"

"I saw it myself, child. In a vision," the Alakazam said.

"Alakazam has predicted many events of our lifetime," the Girafarig explained to me softly. "He has never been wrong either. He will enter long periods of mediation for the simple desire to see what the future holds."

"Normally, the details of what I see remain with me till the grave." The Alakazam said. "But this has too many consequences to be left to fate. And when I heard of you tracking down your father, I saw a great opportunity for you to help."

"But why me? Why not my mother or someone else in that group?" I asked, totally confused.

"Because, contrary to what you believe yourself, your heart really is in the right place. You don't want to do this just on some revenge against your father, you really do care about stopping innocent Pokemon getting hurt." The Girafarig chipped in. "You've seen it yourself, first hand. Look at how you protected that innocent Trapinch from the Fearows."

"Tra! Pinch! Pinch!" the Trapinch trilled its appreciation.

"You have an important part to play in this." Alakazam said. "It has been predetermined ever since you picked up your first Pokeball all those months ago."

"So why wait until now to tell me all this?" I asked, sadly reminiscing on all the hardships and all the terrible things that could have been undone if only I had known all this sooner. "Surely things could have worked out much better if you had told me this earlier?"

"if you had known about this any earlier than you did, things would have played out _very _differently," Alakazam said. "You were at an impressionable stage back then and would not have handled this knowledge well. If you knew then what you know now, you would be a completely different person. You would have turned out to be a bitter, cold human being with no compassion or sympathy for the human condition."

"Gee, thanks…" I muttered darkly.

"It was best for you to experience the trials of Pokemon training for yourself," the Girafarig cut in. "Learn the harshness, but also the rewards that come from such a life. Learn about friendships and… love…" she added with what I could have sworn was another wink, which I blushed fiercely at. "It was all for your own good. Now that you have seen these things and experienced life for what it is, you are a stronger person, more capable of making such consequential decisions."

"You have no idea the burden of which you bear towards deciding the fate of the world now, Sienna." The Alakazam said gravely.

"Oh please," I laughed. ""the fate of the world"? Are you being serious? Things aren't going to get that serious just because my dad gets a hold of one legendary Pokemon?"

The Alakazam glared at me. "You dare to mock me, child?"

"No!" I squeaked and the Trapinch cowered in my arms.

"You have no idea what is going on! Do you know the technology your father is creating? They are working on creating the ultimate capture device! That time they were going after Groudon…that was a test run! Yes, they failed at first, but now they have almost perfected it! With that type of technology at their fingertips they could capture _any _Pokemon in the world as easily as a Pokemon Master would catch a Pidgey or Rattata! Do you have any _idea _what kind of consequences that could foretell? The disasters that could come about because of that? _Yes, _things are that serious!"

"I'm sorry…" I squeaked, mortified.

"You must do all you can to stop this from happening. If your father and his team capture Kyogre, it will serve as a catalyst for all future events," the Alakazam was back to serious mode. "In two weeks today, he and his entire group will storm the cave at Sootopolis and take on Kyogre. And they will win. It is vital that you be there to stop them."

"How?" I asked.

"How you do it is up to you, but I would suggest gathering as many strong trainers as possible and attempt to head them off," Alakazam suggested. "It doesn't matter _how _you do it, but please, just do it."

"I'll… I'll do my best…" I said lamely, suddenly feeling very very scared at the weight of the responsibility drafted onto my shoulders.

"Tra! Tra!" the Trapinch said, reaching up to pat my face with its tiny paws. It seemed to be trying to offer some encouragement.

"The Trapinch is telling you that you can do it," the Girafarig translated.

"Oh…" I said and smiled at the little Trapinch for probably the first time since I had gotten myself caught up with him. "That's sweet."

"This is a lot to take in, I assure you, I understand." The Alakazam said.

"You're telling me," I said, exasperated. I was still struggling to take this in. Whilst traipsing innocently through the Safari Zone I had been abducted by Victreebell and Weepingbell and then found out they had been ordered to do so by an Alakazam! This Alakazam apparently could see into the future and was communicating with me through a telepathic network! Now it was telling me that it knew all about my attempts to stop my dad from succeeding in capturing Groudon and Kyogre _and _even worryingly, knew for a fact when my dad would attack Kyogre again. Even worse… he was going to succeed. I couldn't understand _how _any mere human could control such an amazing legendary Pokemon. What the Alakazam had told me about some kind of ultimate capture device that my dad and his people were developing seemed a little unbelievable to me. And the idea that _I _was the only one who could stop it! No, that was a mistake… surely… this Alakazam must be wrong!

"I am never wrong," the Alakazam said and my entire body jumped with the shock. I looked at him in sheer disbelief, wondering if there was any way I could have just said what I was thinking out loud.

The Girafarig looked at me apologetically. "The telepathic network accounts for what you're thinking as well, Sienna."

"_So… they know what I'm thinking?_"

"Yes, we know what you're thinking."

"Okay, that is just creepy!" I shouted, pointed an accusing finger at Alakazam. "Get out of my head! There's things in there that _no-one _is allowed to see!"

"Calm down, child." The Alakazam said wearily. "I have no interest in your day to day thinking, I assure you."

"Thank God…" I let out a sigh of relief.

"Now, it may be true that Psychic predictions are never an exact art, but I have never been wrong to this date," The Alakazam continued.

"_And so modest too…_"

"I heard that." Alakazam said darkly and I cursed inwardly, which I'm pretty sure he heard again.

"But Alakazam, why me?" I wanted to know. "I know you said it was predetermined or something, but really… why me? Why am I so important?"

"I cannot answer that." Alakazam said. "But just know that it is you who must bear this burden."

"But what if I screw up?" I found myself asking the inevitable.

"You _can't_." Alakazam said. "That's how serious this situation is."

"But I'm not that great of a trainer!"

"Then you must work hard and train hard in the two weeks you have left." Girafarig cut in. "And you forget, you won't be doing it alone. Why not try and convince some of your friends or other strong trainers to help you?"

I found myself thinking of Jasmine, Nikki and Elliot and felt a pang of sadness.

"For the sake of the world, why not set aside your pride and ask for help?" Girafarig asked me seriously. "You're still young, there's no need for you to be so independent. You don't have to do everything alone. Yes, when the time comes, _you _are the one who has to stand up to your father Cal, but until then, there is no shame in asking for help. I know for a fact that there are many people who would be willing to help."

I nodded and found myself clutching the Trapinch close to me. Something in Girafarig's words had struck a chord with me, and I inexplicably found myself holding back tears.

"For now, I think we shall leave it at that." Alakazam said.

"What?" I inadvertently squeezed Trapinch too hard in my shock and he let out a series of squeaks until I relaxed my grip. "You're leaving? Just like that? But…but I'm not ready for this! You need to tell me more!"

"No, that is enough." Alakazam said firmly.

"But-" I protested.

"Sienna, you will be fine." Girafarig assured me. "You know what you have to do, so all you have to do is pull it off."

"Therein lies the problem…" I let out a heavy sigh.

"You are stronger than you believe yourself to be," Alakazam told me firmly. "Just do everything we have told you to and it will work."

"So, train hard, gather some people to help and be there two weeks today when my dad attempts to attack Kyogre." I recapped.

"Exactly."

"No pressure then,"

Alakazam just glared at my sarcasm. "Enough. Now, I shall escort you to the Safari Zone entrance."

"How?" I asked in confusion.

"Like this," Alakazam reached out and took one of my hands. A moment later I felt a strange jerking sensation underneath my feet and then my vision blurred completely as I felt a strong rush of air push against my body. It felt like I was on a rollercoaster or was being dragged through the air by _something_.

This whole thing lasted only for a few seconds before my feet hit the ground again and my vision returned. Over the Trapinch's frightened squeaking I vaguely recognised I was at the Safari Zone exit. A moment later, another flash of light lit up the surrounding area and the Girafarig appeared next to me.

I understood. "Teleport, right?"

"Indeed," the Alakazam nodded. "Now, before you leave, I understand you have been trying to enhance your team of Pokemon?"

"Yes…" I said warily, wondering what he was getting at now. What the hell was he going to tell me _now_?

"Well, I have a suggestion for you."

Excitement shot through me. "You're gonna come with me! You're gonna join my team?" I asked him eagerly.

"No," he deadpanned and I deflated instantly.

"Why though…?" I whined. "You're so strong and have so many amazing powers! You'd be able to help me fight them off easily!"

"My fighting days are long since over," Alakazam said firmly.

"Oh… that's a shame…" I said sadly, visibly trying to hide my disappointment. I of course knew about the reputations Alakazam had for their amazing Psychic powers and for one mad moment, had almost hoped that Alakazam would have decided to accompany me. But of course, he didn't…

"Instead of me, I think you should take Girafarig."

I blinked. "Sorry…?"

"We already discussed it," Girafarig cut in. "We agreed that one of us should go with you to help you in your endeavours. It would be unfair to burden you with all this and then not give you _some _kind of help in return."

"But… are you sure?"

"Of course. My Psychic abilities will be of great use to you." Girafarig said. "And although I cannot establish a psychic connection myself, if ever there is a time when Alakazam needs to talk to you, he can do so through me."

"Wow… well… only if you're certain!"

"I am certain," Girafarig nodded. "I would rather be out there doing something to help than stuck here unable to do anything."

"Well…well that's fair enough," I said, not really sure of what else to say.

"So go ahead. Use a Pokeball on me."

Still taken aback, I set a protesting Trapinch down and produced a Safari Ball. I tapped the Girafarig lightly on the head and she disappeared into the Pokeball without a struggle at all. As the ball shook in my hand slightly, then dimmed and stilled I found myself unwilling to believe I had just caught a Girafarig.

"She will be of excellent use to you," Alakazam chipped in. "Her skills are fantastic and even though she cannot make psychic predictions or use telepathy, her attacks are second to none. She will be a valuable asset for you."

I found myself grinning happily. At my feet, the Trapinch vied for my attention, but I didn't entertain him.

"You should leave now," Alakazam said. "Get a good rest and start training early tomorrow."

"Yeah…" I said, looking at my Pokeball, still in complete shock at the strange series of events that had unfolded today.

"I shall bid you farewell, in that case." The Alakazam said and before I could say goodbye he had teleported away, quite the thing, leaving me and the little Trapinch alone.

I stood there dumbly for a few moments as I looked at the Pokeball in shock.

"_Okay, so an Alakazam just predicted that my father is going to attack Kyogre two weeks today and he's going to succeed, so he ordered my capture and set up a telepathic network to speak to me to tell me _I _had to stop them! Now I have a Girafarig and exactly two short weeks to train up my Pokemon and create some sort of crusade against the people who want Kyogre… This is insane!_"

I gave myself a severe pinch on the arm just to make one hundred percent sure I wasn't dreaming. It hurt like hell so I assumed I wasn't. I let out a tortured sigh.

"_Now…where do I even start_ _with _this?"

* * *

**Author's Note**

**Apologies for the delay with this! This has been on my laptop for ages but haven't uploaded it cos I wasn't satisfied with it yet.**

**I've wanted to stir things up in the fic for a while now and got the idea to integrate a psychic sense into it, and I thought there's no one better than an Alakazam to make sure the severity of the situation is explained. He is the original Psychic badass after all! :)**

**WildCroconaw: Hopefully this chapter cleared that up for you!**

**Ampharoslover666: I always wanted to torture Sienna in the Safari Zone. Hoped that pairing up the lightheartedness of the safari zone with the severity of the predictions made by the Alakazam seemed to be the best combination. Thanks for being such a dedicated reviewer!**

**Anonymous: Haha! It wasn't Nikki, Jasmine, Elliot or the Trapinch! :) Its good to be back :)**

**Summer Featherglow: Thank you very much! I try to put in as much humour as I can in the story to balance it out.**

**I have a dictionairy here: Don't worry... she will be keeping him :)**

**Zoeten: Aww, really? That is so nice of you to say that, especially when there are lots of even better fics out there! Don't worry about the misspellings, the review was a pleasure to read!**


	36. Cairo and Indigo

I was still reeling from the complete unbelievable chain of events that had just unfolded so rapidly and unexpectedly in front of me, I could barely put one foot in front of the other to leave the Safari Zone. Instead, I allowed myself to collapse completely on the ground and take a well earned rest for two minutes and running over this situation in my head one last time, to be _sure _I knew what was happening.

The Alakazam told me that Dad and his people were going to go after Kyogre in two weeks time and that this time they were going to succeed. If that wasn't scary enough, he had also said that somehow _I _was the only one who could stop him… but even with that, apparently I couldn't do it _all_ by myself. I was supposed to find trainers, _strong _trainers, to assist me. I didn't like the sound of this. At all. No matter how many amazing trainers I found, surely they would be no match for the band of Elitists my Dad had following him? If he had a whole _group _of people as strong as that man with the Butterfree and the Seviper that wiped me out so easily, this was not going to be easy. It was going to be next to impossible! I mean, I didn't even know where to begin! Who could I talk to? Who would believe me? It was a pretty unbelievable story… even _I _was struggling to fully comprehend it, let alone anyone else.

Part of me wanted to put aside my pride and phone up Nikki and Jasmine straight away and enlist them to help, but I had to stop myself. I left Nikki and Jasmine behind for a reason. They weren't strong enough trainers to be of much assistance, but more importantly this was my mess to deal with, and I couldn't let them get hurt on my behalf.

Another thought invaded my head. Elliot, I thought eagerly, my heart giving a little leap at even the thought of him. He was a fantastic trainer _and _I could trust him! Added to that, I was almost sure that of all people, he would believe me? Plus, he was bound to know loads of amazing trainers too! He would be perfect!

But as always, I came back down to earth with a crushing disappointment. I didn't know how to get in contact with Elliot…he could have gone anywhere after losing in the Pokemon League challenge and there hadn't been any contact details available on the League challenge website. It had been a good idea at first, but sadly that was that plan well and truly scrapped.

"Pinch? Pinch! Pinch!"

I looked down at the Trapinch cuddling into my ankles, desperate for attention. Despite myself, a watery smile spread across my face and I stroked the little ant Pokemon.

"Tra! Tra!" It trilled happily at the first show of affection I had showed to it.

I realised then I probably wasn't in the best position to be thinking about all the events that had gone on just now. I was tired, cold, sore, filthy and very confused. "_Best thing to do is probably go back to the Pokemon Centre and get some rest…"_ I decided to myself, heaving myself to my feet.

"Tra!" The Trapinch protested irately as I got up.

"See you later, Trapinch…" I waved to it and began to take my leave…

…only to hit the deck five seconds later.

"Pinch! Pinch! Pinch!"

The Trapinch was clinging onto my ankle. Again. Causing me to fall flat on my face. Again.

"Awww, hell!" I groaned. "Look, why do you keep doing that!"

"Pinch!" it said determinedly and clung tighter. Its little claws were like needles pricking my ankle and pain was shooting through it!

"Ow!" I cursed, shaking my ankle until it came loose. "Look, I can't take you with me," I told it firmly. "You're too weak. I can't protect you all the time like today with those other Pokemon!"

"Pinch!" it wailed, looking on the verge of tears.

I hated to see the little thing so upset, but I couldn't exactly take him with me. Could I? No, I tried to tell myself firmly, the little thing was too weak and didn't seem to have very many attacks! I couldn't afford to look after him and train him from scratch like I was doing with Kiba! Plus I already had the Girafarig now to train and get to know, it would be next to impossible to do that with the Trapinch too.

"Pinch! Pinch! Pinch!" It looked up at me with what I could swear was its best attempt at sad Growlithe eyes.

The little Trapinch was still staring at me. Something inside me fell on its side. I hated to admit; I had grown ever so slightly fond of the annoying, clingy, pain-in-the-arse that he was…"_I must be crazy to even be thinking about this…_" I thought to myself, shaking my head.

"Okay, okay, you win!" I said, exasperated, pulling out one of the Safari Zone Pokeballs I had stowed away in my bag.

"Pinch! Pinch!" It cried eagerly as soon as it saw the Pokeball.

"There," I said, chucking the Pokeball casually at the Trapinch. "Now don't say I'm not good to you."

With a flash of red light, the Trapinch was engulfed within the Pokeball and after a few seconds, the ball dimmed and stilled with the Trapinch sealed inside. I picked up the stationary ball and sighed. I mentally kicked myself for taking up the last, precious spot on my team with this little Trapinch. Somehow I knew I was going to regret this later.

"_Well… no-one can accuse my team of not being diverse, I guess." _I thought to myself, looking for a bright side in all this._ "A Flaaffy, a Spheal, a Persian, a Growlithe, a Girafarig and a Trapinch… Again, I think "spirited" is a good word here…_"

* * *

After collecting my Pokeballs from the main office at the Safari Zone, returning the unused Safari Zone Pokeballs and suffering a few taunts at the expense of my apparently "mediocre" haul of captured Pokemon, I stomped off to the Pokemon Centre, my temper very close to blowing.

I did nothing but dump my stuff in my room and collapse on my bed once I got back to my room. It was very late at night, but my brain was ticking away, refusing to shut itself off. I grumbled and tossed and turned for a while, trying everything to shut out my incessant thoughts but it was useless. I couldn't sleep.

I reached for my six Pokeballs. Heh, six Pokeballs. I still hadn't gotten used to that. My Spirited Six, I thought fondly. It felt a little strange. I had a full team now, like a proper Pokemon trainer. I rolled Meloi, Aurora and Monty's familiar, worn Pokeballs in my hands and got used to the grooves and contours of the new ones belonging to Kiba, the Girafarig and the Trapinch. Holding them gave me comfort and warmth spread across my body from the inside out, making me feel strangely content.

I dropped off to sleep almost immediately after.

* * *

The morning came all too soon, my room bathed in glorious sunshine. I wanted to take a few moments to admire the beauty of the morning, but I knew I couldn't. I had too much work to do.

I showered, dried and dressed in record time and then grabbed my six Pokeballs. First thing I had to do was introduce the new Pokemon to the old team.

I released the Girafarig and the Trapinch first. The Trapinch immediately suctioned itself to my ankle upon release, making it difficult to move, but the Girafarig eyed me seriously, like she had something she dearly wanted to say. I understood immediately what she was getting at.

"Don't worry," I knelt down to her level (which was surprisingly difficult with Trapinch attached to me). "I'm gonna start work today. I'm not going to let my dad and his people capture Kyogre. I'll train hard and find people to help, I promise." I told her, and meant every word of it.

The Girafarig nodded her approval.

"God, I have so much work to do…" I said out loud, lamenting my problems. "I don't even know where to start."

Common sense kicked in almost immediately. First things first, get the team acquainted. After that, figure out how strong (or weak) the new additions were. Then concentrate on the bigger picture.

"I suppose I should name you pair…" I mused, as Girafarig began sniffing around my room and Trapinch clung tighter. "I guess you first since you_ technically_ have seniority," I said to Girafarig, but I wasn't sure she was really listening.

I considered Girafarig for a while. I wanted a good, strong name that would make her stand out, like I'd been doing with my other Pokemon, but also something that played to that femininity I knew she had. I remembered her lovely, tender, musical voice. I wanted a soft, beautiful name for her, nothing too harsh or bland…

It came to me in a flash of inspiration. "Indigo." I said out loud.

She pricked up her head to look at me.

"Indigo," I repeated, liking the way it sounded. "Yeah, Indigo. I like it."

To me, it seemed perfect. To name a soft, gentle Psychic after the Indigo Children, a name given to young children who supposedly had psychic gifts, seemed to fit exactly. Indigo itself was a delicate, feminine name, but as well as that, the term "Indigo Children" came from the supposed colour of the auras of those children.

"What do you think, Indigo? Do you like it?"

Indigo bayed happily.

"Good," I grinned, patting her on the head.

I then looked down at the little critter suctioned to my ankle. "Now, as for you…" I leaned down and prised him off. "What to call you?"

"Pinch!" It cried happily.

"Yeah, yeah, I know…" I said, wearily putting him down again, still in shock that I had been saddled with this little thing. I found it oddly difficult to think of a nickname for the Trapinch… I had to think a long time before something finally came to me.

"Cairo," I decided after a long period of thinking.

"Pinch?" he looked up at me.

"Yeah, you're Cairo from now on," I told him. "You're named after the capital city of Egypt, one of the sandiest desert places in the world. Considering your natural habitat, I think its more than appropriate."

I don't think Cairo was even paying attention; he seemed more intent on squeezing the life out of my ankle. I didn't really mind though, I was happy with his nickname.

"Next job," I said to myself, pulling out my Pokedex. "Let's see exactly what I'm dealing with here."

I pointed the Pokedex at Indigo first.

"_Girafarig, the Long Neck Pokémon. Girafarig has a second head on its tail that bite those who approach it carelessly__."_

Upon some further probing, I discovered my Indigo was at a high level 28 and knew a wide arsenal of attacks including physical attacks like Stomp and Assurance, but to my delight she also knew two Psychic attacks; Confusion and Psybeam.

I reluctantly moved on to Cairo next.

"_Trapinch, the Ant Pit Pokémon. Trapinch dig cone-shaped holes in desert areas. Its large and powerful jaws are capable of crushing stones."_

I discovered Cairo stood a disheartening level 15 and only had two attacks to its name. Bite and Sand Attack. I let out a low groan of disappointment. I could foresee a _lot _of training with Cairo to get him strong. Fair enough, Kiba was at a much lower level than Cairo, but with Kiba I saw potential… Cairo didn't seem to have much of that at the moment. And he was also a Ground type…Needless to say; I was more than a little bit nervous around him, even in this weakened state.

I decided then it was time to bite the bullet and introduce the newly christened Indigo and Cairo to the other four. I just prayed to God they would gel together and not cause me too much hassle…

Hah, like always, I was wrong.

After two seconds of the six of them being in the same room together, Meloi had launched herself bodily at the two newcomers, thundershocks flying at random, Monty had darted to a corner of the room and was hissing and spitting, his fur standing on end, and Aurora, completely undaunted by the presence of two new Pokemon had thrown herself at the new object of her affection (Kiba) and was now squashing him with her ample body weight. Cairo started squealing and Indigo _attempted _to herd Meloi away, but all she got for her efforts was a Thundershock in the face.

I took one look at the scene of growling, snarling, yelping and thundershock throwing Pokemon in front of me and let out a tortured sigh. "All right guys, time out!" I yelled, holding out my Pokeballs and returning them all, two at a time. I purposefully left Meloi till last and glared at her.

"Come on Meloi, what was that all about?" I asked her, folding my arms crossly. "Cairo and Indigo are part of the team now, same as you or Aurora or Monty or Kiba. You can't just lash out like that when someone new comes along. I thought you would know better by now,"

"Flaaf!" She said irately, and a moment later I felt a painful electric shock tear through me. I cursed, Meloi's electric shocks were viciously powerful now and I still hadn't gotten used to the new level of voltage.

"Meloi!" I scolded her sharply after I got over the stinging feeling. I recalled her immediately back to her Pokeball, letting out another haughty sigh. Well, like I'd said before, life with my "spirited" team was never boring.

After the disastrous attempts to acquaint the Spirited Six (I could not get that name out of my head now, much to my annoyance) with each other, I was left to focus on the issue at hand. I had two weeks to train, find strong trainers to convince to help me and stop my dad from capturing Kyogre… and I had no idea where to begin.

I decided to give Professor Oak a call. He would believe me, surely? And he was bound to know some strong trainers? It was worth a shot, I decided. I didn't have anything to lose after all…

I went down to give him a call. Long story short, he, as I expected, was more than a bit baffled by my story after I explained. But after much convincing on my part, he agreed to help. He explained to me he would rally around the trusted trainers he knew, explain the situation to them and have them dispatched to Sootopolis within the week to assist me. I was ecstatic! He also explained that if I needed further support to go to the leader of the Sootopolis gym, give the leader (a man called Wallace) Professor Oak's name and explain my situation to him.

With the knowledge that a team of expert trainers were being dispatched to meet me at Sootopolis Pokemon Centre within the week, and the idea to go ask the leader of Sootopolis gym for his help, I was beginning to feel a little more confident. Not exactly singing in the rain type confident, but you know… a little better. I decided to immediately take the ferry to Sootopolis and appeal my case to the Gym Leader.

I thanked Professor Oak for his help and hung up the phone. Within half an hour, I was packed and ready to go, on my way down to the ferry terminal. As I bought my ticket and waited for the ferry to come in, my mind strayed to my mother. I wondered, was there even the slightest possibility that she was aware of the imminent attack to come on Kyogre? I wished with all my heart that she did know. If she did, and her team showed up, along with the team of trainers Professor Oak had promised _and _whatever help I received from the Sootopolis Gym Leader, there was no _way _dad could succeed! From what I had seen so far, mum was always either one step ahead or toe-to-toe with dad on every move he made. She knew that something was going to happen in Sootopolis, that much I knew, but did she know how _soon _it was going to be? I sincerely hoped so.

I boarded the ferry and found myself a seat. Soon enough, the familiar, uneasy sensation of the boat moving over the waves washed over me and I couldn't really focus on anything else but that. The ferry ride this time seemed to take a lot longer than I remembered and it was already mid-afternoon by the time it docked in Sootopolis.

"Right then," I said looking around the familiar surroundings of Sootopolis. "Where do I even begin?"

My eyes fell first on the tiny prick in the distance that I knew was Sootopolis Gym. Professor Oak had told me to speak to the leader Wallace and ask him for his assistance. Part of me wanted to get started on working with my Pokemon, especially with Cairo, Indigo and Kiba, but I knew it was vital to get help secured as soon as possible.

I started off towards the gym, praying to every God in existence that the Gym Leader would somehow believe me and my incredible story, and not dismiss me as some raving loon…

"_Wish me luck!_"

* * *

**Author's Note**

**So Sienna got her Trapinch after all!**

**Just a quick chapter here. The next chapter is mainly filler, just a cute little story I had kicking around in my head that I wanted to work in at some point, but I've managed to tie it in so that it's contributing SOMETHING to the story line. :) Also on the cards in the future is a two part filler story and a Gym Battle, then a return to the action :)**

**After the next four chapters, this story will be reaching its climax and then it will end within the next 10-15 chapters. There will be an Epilogue, but then I think I will leave it be. HOWEVER, I will be uploading a Short Story collection about the Spirited characters which will also shed light on the actions of Jasmine and Nikki during Sienna's absence, due to popular demand.**

**I was so happy with the kind, enthusiastic reviews I recieved for the last chapter that inspired me to write this chapter so soon**

**I have a dictionary here: It is an interesting question... unfortunately you're just gonna have to wait and see what's going to happen**

**WildCroconaw: Haha! Yeah, I hope it wasn't too much to take in at once...**

**Splashstorm: Thank you SO SO much for your reviews! I love it when people take such an interest to the extent you did. I had already settled on Indigo for Girafarig's nickname, but thank you for all your suggestions! I'm afraid that adding Nikki/Jasmine POV chapters would spoil the flow of the story, BUT I will write some chapters anyway and upload them into a seperate story if the demand is high enough. :) I can confirm that yes, Nikki and Jasmine are still searching for Sienna. And don't worry, they'll return to the story a few chapters before the end to lend a hand in something very important. I can also confirm that Elliot WILL be showing up soon too and will play a major part in the story from then on.**

**Anonymous: Surprise! Trapinch is part of the team!**

**AmpharosLover666: As I said to Anonymous, Trapinch is a member of the team. Perhaps not an honourary member yet, but he will prove his worth :)**


	37. Do You Know the Poffin Man?

I almost collapsed on the ground in disappointment when I saw the sign nailed to the Sootopolis Gym.

"CLOSED UNTIL NEXT WEEK" was stamped on a dirty great plank of wood in giant painted black letters. I let out an angered shriek and almost ripped off the plank of wood from the door right there and then, but stopped myself as there were people walking past shooting me funny looks. So instead I compensated by half heartedly kicking at the door, sticking my hands firmly in my pockets and walking away with as much dignity as I could muster.

I tried telling myself that it wasn't all that bad. I still had two weeks until my dad and his people came for Kyogre and Wallace was due back in a week, leaving one week to spare. That would be plenty of time, surely? I hated to admit it, but getting angry wasn't going to help anything. There was nothing I could do about it anyway; it just meant that for the next week, I had to immerse myself in training. That was it. Simple as.

I carried on past the Pokemon Centre, attempting to scout out a decent place to start training. I decided that for the moment, I would devote myself to Kiba, Indigo and Cairo and then work on refining Meloi, Aurora and Monty later on.

I decided to stop for lunch at a local café before throwing myself in for a full day's hard training. I found the only local place in Sootopolis and went in, expecting to be met with a nice relaxed atmosphere offering good food, but instead found it alive with activity! The place was mobbed with people; a raised platform had been erected in the middle of the floor with a podium centred on it. There were no tables and chairs, but about fifty cooking stations kitted out with ingredients and utensils taking their places. Each station was numbered and most had people standing behind or around it. A table had been set up at the front left of the café, with three empty seats. A strange barrage of smells invaded my nostrils as I entered. I was engulfed with a peculiar mix of spicy and sweet smells and a blast of eye-watering heat.

Curiosity got the better of me as I walked up to one of the stations, manned by a young woman. To my surprise I saw her mixing some kind of peculiar thick batter with a manner of ingredients, berries and spices. This thick batter was then ladled on to a heat pad on the station, then mixed and stirred until it was cooked into what looked like a flat pancake. Then, the pancake was flipped off the stove and cut into small pieces and decorated.

I understood. "_She's making Poffins! But why… what's all this for?"_

I watched as another woman began prepping her batter. Into her batter went the standard ingredients, as well as a heaped handful of juicy pink berries blitzed down into a pulp. She then added a squeeze of some kind of sweet smelling liquid into her batter, which turned it extremely runny. The woman tried in vain to collect the thin batter and spread it across the hot turntable, but what little she was able to ladle in burned to a crisp immediately.

"_I knew that was gonna happen,_" I thought to myself. "_That batter is far too runny. Those berries are way too juicy; she should have known to thicken it up with more flour or something afterwards._"

I was suddenly conscious of someone standing next to me. I whipped around and saw a young woman wearing a thick white apron and carrying a clipboard.

"Hiya! Are you interested in signing up for the Sootopolis Grand Poffin Cooking Competition?" she asked me cheerily.

"I beg your pardon?" I asked slowly.

"This is our yearly Poffin Cooking Competition!" The girl said with a sunny smile that almost blinded me. "It's a huge event here in Sootopolis and all of Hoenn! Competitors come from all over Hoenn to take part."

"What are the rules?" I asked tentatively.

"Quite simple, really!" She beamed. "You take one of the five Poffin categories which are Sweet, Bitter, Sour, Spicy and Dry! You then cook a selection of Poffins for the category you choose, and then you pick your best one, decorate it beautifully and present it to the judges. They will be then judged in terms of Appearance, Effectiveness and the most important, Taste! Then the best one from each category goes to the mystery judge! Our overall winner will win a cash prize, a basket of luxury Poffins all designed to improve Pokemon stats, and a spot on our hall of fame! Would you like to enter?"

I thought about it. This sounded interesting. Very interesting in fact. I loved baking, believe it or not and that was essentially what Poffins were. They were like little muffins, but made with Berries and designed for Pokemon! Over the months I'd been a trainer, I'd made Poffins before for my Pokemon and they had always gone down a treat. I thought about, seriously thought about entering. I had experience, loved cooking, I knew how to work with ingredients and reckoned I was pretty good at it, and the sound of those luxury Poffins had intrigued me.

"Tell me more about the luxury Poffins?" I asked casually.

"Certainly!" she grinned. "They are specifically designed to not _only _enhance a Pokemon's beauty and smartness like regular Poffins; they have the added extras of minerals such as Protein and Zincs to improve stats like Strength, Defence and Speed!"

"I'd like to enter please." I said at once. At that point, I didn't care who the other people were entering this competition, or the fact I didn't really have time to do this, I _wanted _those stat enhancing Poffins. If I had those Poffins, I could make my Pokemon far stronger! And that in turn meant a better chance at taking down my dad...

"Excellent!" she grinned. "If you would follow me please?"

The woman led me over to an empty station. In front of me was the basic Poffin recipe, two small tables of ingredients, one red table of basic ingredients and another green table of additional ingredients, plus a giant basket of berries. She took my name, asked me what category I wanted to be in (I decided to go for Sweet), gave me a number (27, if you're interested) and then left me to it, informing me they were ready to start. A few seconds later, a well rounded man with a beaming face was bellowing over a microphone.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Twentieth Grand Sootopolis Poffin Making Competition!" the announcer's enthusiastic voice rang out. "We are thrilled to welcome all our competitors! This competition prides itself on allowing _anyone _to enter, both eager amateurs and talented professions in the hope of finding amazing talent. This year we have a fantastic cash prize and basket of luxury Poffins for the winner, plus a little something for all runners up! I'd like to introduce our esteemed panel of judges,"

I looked across at the judging table to see a stern old man, a middle aged woman and surprisingly, what looked like a young teenage boy and a Persian sitting on the panel.

"First, we have author of the series of best-selling cookbooks for Pokemon, and Poffin making extraordinaire: Mr Michael Todd!" The stern old man nodded as applause erupted around him. I had never heard of him, but judging from the applause, he must have been well-known.

"Next, we have Lisa Taylor, presenter from the _Pokemon Good Food _TV program!" the middle aged woman grinned and waved. I found myself a little bit in awe, I had heard of Lisa Taylor! I had watched her programs early on a Saturday morning when I was a couple of years younger when I first became interested in cooking!

"And finally, we have the winners of the Regional "Fussiest Pokemon" competition held in Mauville, Chase Jordan and his Persian Whiskers!"

Warm applause sounded out. The Persian swished its tail back and forth and surveyed the surrounding crowd disdainfully in a manner eerily reminiscent of my own Monty…

"Be warned, competitors, in order to win the overall competition, your Poffin _must _be positively judged by the official Fussiest Pokemon in all of Hoenn!"

I gulped nervously. Suddenly this didn't seem as easy as I had thought. Even if my Poffin was well received, if the region's fussiest Pokemon didn't like it, I was screwed…

"Now, here are the rules!" the announcer carried on. "You will have one hour to create as many Poffins as you like, but you can only submit _one _recipe of Poffin to be judged by the end of the hour. You must submit a platter of separate pieces of your chosen Poffin and the plate must be garnished and decorated appropriately. The plate _must _be on that table before the hour is out," the announcer indicated a large wooden table covered in numbered placemats over in the corner of the room. "And you must put your plate on your own placemat with your own number. If you do not know what your number is, you can inquire to one of the proctors."

My head was beginning to swim a little. There were a lot of rules here to remember.

"You have all been provided with a basic Poffin recipe and ingredients. The Poffins _must _be made using every one of the ingredients of the _red _table otherwise you will be disqualified."

I cast a look at the basic ingredients. I sighed with relief, seeing that they really were just _basic _ingredients and pretty much necessary in Poffin cooking. Butter, flour, eggs, and sugar. Simplicity at its best.

"There will be proctors stationed watching your cooking and will take no hesitations in disqualifying you if they catch any cheating," the announcer warned seriously. "In regard to the ingredients on the green table and the Berries offered, you may use as many or as little as you want."

I wished they would just shut up and let us get on with it…

"In regards to judging, the Poffins will be judged in three categories, Appearance, Effectiveness and Taste. In Appearance, the Poffins must be appealing to eat by both Pokemon and humans. In Effectiveness, the Poffin must be judged to improve or enhance the stats of Pokemon well, and will be tested accordingly behind the scenes. And in Taste, the Poffin will be given to a team of blind Pokemon tasters. All of this will be overseen by our Judges, and they will choose the winners."

I knew for a fact now this competition was going to be tough. I had to create a platter of Poffin pieces using the ingredients given, and make it attractive to look at, it has to improve a Pokemon's stats, _and _it must stand up to a panel of blind tasters. They weren't exactly asking much of us, were they…?

"A winner will be chosen from each category and then a piece of each winning Poffin will be presented to the Region's Fussiest Pokemon, Whiskers!" the announcer indicated the Persian. "Whichever Poffin Whiskers prefers will be judged the overall winner!"

I was beginning to get nervous now. Even if I could make a Poffin to all those specifications, there was no way it could stand up to the tastebuds of a Persian _that _fussy! Sure, I had quite a bit of experience in cooking, had made my fair share of Poffins in Poffin Houses on my four months on the roads (they were an excellent way of feeding my Pokemon and keeping them full when times were hard) and I _had _managed to coax my _own _fussy Persian into eating my Poffins which I assumed he liked, but this sounded totally out of my depth.

"Also, we have one final announcement. We are thrilled to announce that as this is the competition's twentieth anniversary, this year's competition will be _filmed for_ a prime time spot on Lisa Taylor's _Pokemon Good Food _program to be aired next month!"

"What…!" I said to myself in shock and even as I said that, I caught sight of a film team standing in the corner, all set up and ready to shoot. One man was even standing at the edge of the stage, filming the announcer! I cursed myself, how could I have not noticed that! I couldn't risk being filmed and having my face all over the TV! I was meant to be in hiding! But there was no way of backing out now…

"Competitors, let's get ready to bake!" The announcer shouted cheerfully as a giant clock I hadn't previously noticed was lit up with the numbers 1:00:00. "On your marks, get set…BAKE!"

With an eruption of cheering from the surrounding audience, the clock began to count down. Everyone next to me leapt straight into action, but I was momentarily stunned. What the hell was I doing this for again!

"_Come on, Sienna! Focus!_" I told myself firmly. "_Remember why you're doing this_!"

I focused on getting the batter done first before I even bothered contemplating what I was going to put in to my Poffins. I was used enough to whipping up a basic batter mix, so I was able to do that easily enough. I measured enough out for four batches of mixture which would give me three, maybe four decent sized platters of Poffins. I made the batter with only thirteen minutes off the clock and I was left with the hard, but also the exciting bit to do. Deciding which Berries would be most appropriate for the Poffins.

I had to work on a strict limitation. The Berries I needed to use had to give a satisfyingly sweet taste to the Poffin, but I didn't want to overpower it with anything that was too sickly. I also had to make sure the Berries I used complimented each other and improved the stats of the Pokemon too. I didn't have much to work with. First, I cleared away the Berries I would definitely _not _be using, the Sour, Bitter and Spicy ones. They were grouped together in their respective categories, so there was no doubt which was which, even in the ones I didn't recognise.

I decided to throw myself straight into the deep end. I divided up the batter between four mixing bowls and then grabbed a handful of Pecha Berries. These Berries were horribly soft and squishy, exceedingly sweet and a soft pink in colour. I blitzed them down to a soft pink pulp, quickly removed the seeds and added it to the batter. The batter instantly went runny but I quickly thickened it with some extra flour and butter, making it back up to the consistency I wanted. I dipped my finger in the batter and tasted it just to be sure. Yes, it was sweet, but that's all it was. To experiment, I added a shake of salt and a slight hint of spice. It didn't work that well. Sure, it took the edge off the sweetness but it didn't have any real depth. I wasn't happy with it, and decided to scrap it.

I lunged for two Kasib Berries and did the same with them. These were much sweeter than the Pecha Berries, so I shook in a few drops of the juice of a mildly spicy Berry to the mix. I tasted the batter, finding it very fruity and tongue-numbingly sweet. It was nice, don't get me wrong, but not to my tastes.

As I was halfway through gathering up Bluk berries, I was suddenly aware of a camera nearby; darting through the other stations. I squeaked involuntarily and carried on with my work, hoping to God they hadn't caught me on camera. I was beginning to get more experimental now, combining a Bluk Berry and a Persim berry, creating an interesting purple pulp. Upon tasting the raw pulp, I found it to be a peculiar mix of flavours, dominantly sweet, but with subtle undertones of flavours I couldn't quite put my finger on. I tried it again and found myself liking it even more! It was actually quite delicious. I quickly combined the pulp with the batter and tried it again, just to be on the safe side. It was actually quite delicious! I added in a quick shake of salt and a dash of sweet vanilla and upon a fourth tasting, I was decided. This was the Poffin I was going to use. It was beautifully sweet, but not overpowering, with a slight, refreshing aftertaste.

I glanced at the clock. I had twenty seven minutes left. I cast an eye at the two bowls of batter I had made earlier and decided to discard them, and focus on my Bluk/Persim Poffin. Now came the difficult part. I began to heat the turntable slowly with a slight hint of oil to stop it sticking, and once it was at a decent heat, poured my purple batter in. I began to mix it slowly, taking care not to spill any. I wanted a smooth, evenly-cooked Poffin. Soon enough, the telltale signs of cooking began to show. The liquid began to solidify and turn darker, and all I had to do was keep turning it until I was certain it was cooked through. I had had plenty of practice doing this, so I knew exactly how Poffins should be cooked, mixed and removed. Once I was convinced it was cooked _just _right I carefully lifted it out of the turntable and placed it on my station.

I had to admit I was quite pleased with my efforts. The sponge was a nice purple in colour, had risen well and was smooth and free from burns. I quickly checked the time; I still had fifteen minutes left. That was plenty of time to arrange my plate nicely and get it on the judges table. I looked up at my competition and found that most people were at the same stage as me, cutting and garnishing. A few eager people already had their plates on the table.

"All right, let's see what I can do with this…" I said, looking at the sponge I had in front of me. I had to slice it up and make it look pretty on the plate. Luckily, I had a pretty big sponge to work with. I needed it for the idea I had.

I was a dab hand with a knife and was easily able to slice up my sponge into medium sized individual squares. I was smiling from ear to ear as I cut and sliced neat little shapes into the squares. I was in my element! Cooking was something I had always loved to do, something I had taken up after my dad left. If I wasn't going to become a Pokemon trainer like everyone else, I knew I would have to find something else to do with my life. So I had taken up cooking and baking in the hope of one day becoming a Pastry chef… that was my life's ambition. Being here, making these Poffins… I couldn't help but remember why I was so passionate about it…

With five minutes to spare, my plate hit the table. Number 27, entering the sweet category. I smiled as I laid down my plate, the sponge squares cut into the shape of cat's heads, garnished with a scattering of purple and pink berry slices. I backed away from the table, quite happy with myself.

I couldn't wait for the results now. I wanted to win more than I thought! I wanted those luxury Poffins! If they were able to strengthen my Pokemon's stats and make them stronger, faster, smarter, then I wanted them! I would need all the help I could get if I was supposed to stop my dad after all!

* * *

The results seemed to take forever to finally be revealed. No sooner had the clock counted down to zero than the plates were whisked away through the back to be judged. I saw a few unfortunate people only seconds late to the table turned away, much to their disappointment. I found myself a secluded spot, away from the prying eyes of the camera and the interviews with the contestants. A lot more people had turned out for this than I remembered, but then again I had been so absorbed in my work I hadn't really noticed the people I had been working alongside.

After what felt like eternity, they were ready to announce the results. The announcer explained that each Poffin submitted was scored out of thirty, with ten points available for each Taste, Effectiveness and Appearance.

I was on tenterhooks as the results were revealed.

"In the Bitter Category, with a score of seven out of ten for Appearance, a nine out of ten for Effectiveness and an eight out of ten for Taste, resulting in a score of twenty four out of thirty, the winner is… Cassandra Carr!"

A young woman of about twenty or so practically ran on stage to be presented with a small medal and a cheque I was surprised, I hadn't realised that the winner of each individual category won a cash prize! Now I had even more of an incentive to win.

"Winner from the Spicy category, scoring an eight out of ten for Appearance, a nine out of ten for Effectiveness and a nine out of ten for Taste, totalling in a fantastic score of twenty six out of thirty is… Adam Samson!"

A middle aged, bearded man sauntered slowly on stage to receive his award. I didn't like the look on his face; it was like he _expected _to win.

"And in the Dry category—"

"_Oh, hurry up and get to the Sweet category_!" I screamed inwardly.

"—with a total score of twenty three out of thirty is… Emma Simm!"

"_Please be Sweet category! Please be Sweet!_" I willed as the next winner collected her award. I was practically on the edge on my seat, praying for the results of the Sweet Category. I didn't know in all honesty if I had won… listening to all the high scores these people had achieved, I highly doubted I had even come _close_. But all the same, I wanted to win! I wanted those luxury Poffins so much! And as well as that, I wanted to do well! I guess I wanted to prove to myself that there _was _more to my life than just Pokemon training…

"In the Sour category—"

"_Oh hell… Sweet is next_!"

"— and an impressive ten out of ten for Taste, the winner with a total score of twenty six out of thirty is… Matthew Curtis!"

A deafening scream of triumph erupted from near me and I saw a young boy from near me dart on stage, a wide grin adorning his face to collect his prize. Once he eventually got off the stage, my nerves becoming ever more frayed by the second, they were ready to announce the winner of my category.

"And the winner of the ever-popular Sweet category, which had over thirty registered contestants…"

"_Thirty!_" I gasped inwardly. "_Oh God… there's no way I've won now…_" I sighed with a crushing disappointment, but at the same time I sort of accepted it. "_I tried anyway, that's the important thing. Besides, there were probably people here who've been doing this sort of thing all their lives. I can't really expect a few attempts at making Poffins and an interest in baking to get me a win on such a professional level…_"

"—with an impressive nine out of ten for Appearance, eight out of ten for Effectiveness and a nine out of ten for taste—"

I put my head out in my hands. I didn't trust myself to look at the face of the one who beat me to it; in case I was too tempted to have Meloi cast a sneaky thundershock in his or her direction at the end of the competition…

"—the winner is…"

"_Oh, just get it over with…_" I sighed, hating the long delay.

"Sienna Volbeda!"

I blinked and raised my head. "Eh…?" I said dumbly.

"Sienna Volbeda! Where is Sienna Volbeda?"

I got to my feet and timidly raised my hand. Still stunned, I could barely even squeak out. "Umm… that's me!"

I was suddenly aware of a camera and a hundred pairs of eyes on me.

"Well come on up here darling, you've won!"

My feet seemed to take on a will of their own and they walked me through the crowd of cheering people and up on stage. The announcer grabbed my hand and shook it warmly and passed me a cheque for £50 and a little medal.

"The judges _loved _how you were able to make a Poffin that was so deliciously sweet but at the same time, not sickly." The announcer told me, away from the microphone. "They also loved how you cut the pieces to look like Persian heads too! Well done!"

"Th…thank you!" I said stunned.

"Go and sit with the others, sweetheart," he indicated the four other winners.

I found myself taking the only seat left, in-between Emma Simm and Cassandra Carr. I could barely even believe it as I looked down at the applauding crowd before me. "_I… won? Wow… I can't believe it!" _

"Now, whilst Chase Jordan and the other judges take the winning Poffins backstage to be judged by Chase's Persian, Whiskers, I will take this moment to assure the contestants and the public that unlike most Persians, Whiskers has no preference over Poffin types. Although he is fussy, it is _quality _he is fussiest over, and will eat all types of Poffins."

I breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good…" I said out loud.

"Now, I think the judging has begun now…" the announcer said after a signal from someone in the audience. "Yes, it is officially underway."

A jangle of nerves hit my body and I gulped.

"In the meantime, the contestants will be interviewed for _Pokemon Good Food_!"

"What?" I gasped.

I didn't have time to argue. Moments later, we were all ushered away to a small room in the back of the café to be interviewed.

I could barely even look at the camera _or _the woman that was to be doing the interview. I wished to God I had some way of hiding my face. I wished I had one of those stupid sweeping fringes to cover my face and eyes. Or a hat. Or a pair of glasses. Or _something. _I hoped that being in between the four other contestants that I would be somewhat ignored and that I would blend in too! But no such luck.

"We'll come to the winner of the ever popular Sweet category first. Sienna Volbeda, yes?"

"_Brilliant…Just my sodding luck…_"

The interview wasn't that _bad_, I have to admit. I was asked basic questions, my name, my age, my occupation and why I entered the competition. I didn't want to say exactly _why _I entered… I didn't fancy telling every man and his Growlithe that I was only doing this cos I wanted those stat-enhancing Poffins, so I simply said that cooking was always a passion and that I had just stumbled into the competition by chance. They seemed impressed with this, complimenting my choice of design and the fact I was able to win my category on my _first _ever competition.

The questioning was brief, thank God, and they moved away from me quickly, but as far as I was concerned the damage was done and I was very angry with myself. After successfully managing to keep myself hidden for four months, I had very likely just undone all those hardships by one stupid mistake. I had just been filmed for a prime time slot on one of the most popular cooking programs on the television… what an idiot.

Soon enough, the interview drew to a close and after a brief wait, we were ushered out to the main part of the café for the overall winner to be announced. We were all stood in a line in the centre of the stage, a camera panning up and down the stage to catch out reactions. Near to us, stood the judges and Whiskers. In front of us, the announcer was clutching a sealed envelope in his portly hand.

"Its time to announce our winners!" the announcer beamed into the microphone. "We will be starting with our second runner up!"

I tensed at once.

"So, without further ado, I shall reveal our second runner up!" the announcer said, whipping out a card from the envelope. "And our winner of the £200 cash prize and six of the prized stat-enhancing Poffins is…"

They seemed to take forever to announce the runner up. My mind was going a mile a minute. Another thing I hadn't realised was that the runner ups won some of those amazing sounding Poffins too!

"Emma Simm!" the announcer shouted cheerily.

I congratulated Emma as she ran past up to collect her cheque and tiny basket of Poffins. I smiled, happy that she had won. She had seemed like a nice, down-to-earth girl when she was chatting away in the interview. We had chatted for a while after the interview and I liked her and was happy for her, but at the same time it became even more obvious that I had no chance now… it was such a disappointment. After all that work, after the fact I had probably just undone all those months of careful hiding, I had hoped to get _something _for it. I tried to tell myself not to worry about it, the show wasn't going to be aired for some time, but I was still angry. And disappointed. I just wanted to stand up and leave, but I had to show face and be happy for those had done well enough to win.

"And our first runner up, winner of the £300 cash prize and a basket of _twelve _miracle stat-enhancing Poffins is… _Sienna Volbeda!_"

"YOU'RE JOKING!"

* * *

I could hardly believe what had just happened as I left the Café later that night after the little celebration they had held afterwards. I was just £350 richer and had won twelve special stat enhancing Poffins in one of the most prestigious, region wide Poffin competitions! I didn't even care that that idiot show off Adam Samson had won the overall competition! I couldn't wait to start giving these Poffins to my Pokemon!

To my incredible surprise, the man who had created these amazing Poffins actually turned out to be one of the judges, Michael Todd and he took time to explain to the winners that each Poffin had been infused with things like Zinc and Protein to enhance stats like Attack and Defence. He smiled at me and told me to "use them wisely", and I nodded with all determination that I would.

I felt happy as I walked back to the Pokemon Centre. For once I had managed to achieve something and do it _right_. After a string of failures it felt like to finally _succeed_. Fair enough, I was only a runner up, but that didn't matter! I had finally broken the chain of failures and even better, I had broken it doing something I loved doing. Making those Poffins, figuring out how ingredients worked together, the whole excitement of making something good with your own two hands… it had rekindled a spark in me. I was decided. Having a career in cooking was what I wanted to do with my life.

I was still grinning when I lay on my bed, placing my basket of prized Poffins safely on the bedside table. Maybe this win, this success today, was an omen of good things to come? I certainly hoped so… I certainly _needed _it, that was for sure.

* * *

**Author's Note**

**I know, more filler. Please don't hate me...**

**This story has been kicking around in my head for a while but I never really found a good opportunity to work it in until now. It IS filler, I know and probably some readers won't like it, so this is one of the chapters that can be skipped without impacting the story. The next two chapters are crucial though (even if you don't think so at first) but you will be happy to know that once these chapters are over and done with, there will be NO MORE FILLER and the story will reach its climax.**

**WildCroconaw: Well, thank you! I try to be as inventive and orginial with nicknames as I can :) Sienna has the upcoming assistance of Pokemon trainers from her hometown and she will attempt to get Wallace on her team :) And as for Sienna's mother, let's just say she's always one step ahead... :)**

**Splashstorm: The Pokemon's levels currently stand like this: Meloi: level 31, Monty: 28, Aurora: 25. Cairo the trapinch will be evolving soon under some interesting circumstnaces...**

**Zoeten: Thank you very much for reviewing! :) Well, I was thinking of doing a submit OC thing for the talented trainers but I realised that their appearances in the story will be minimal so I decided not to. It wouldn't be worth it, to be honest, so the trainers will be OCs of mine. Scott is scheduled to appear, but not until the final chapters and Epilogue of the story, I am afraid.**

**Xylobe: Haha, Sienna is a little naive at the potential little Cairo has. She doesn't realise how powerful he will be, so let's say she's more than a little bit oblivious. :)**

**Anyway, hope you enjoyed my filler chapter.**

**Please read and review! :)**


	38. Never Smile at a Croconaw!

I woke up early the morning after the Poffin cooking competition, eager to get right into my training! I dove straight out of my bed, pulled on the first clothes I got my hands on, grabbed my things and ran out to find a training spot!

As soon as I found a secluded spot to train, I released my Spirited Six (dammit, that name had stuck!). Of course, there were a few scuffles between my Pokemon as I imagined, mainly caused by Meloi and Monty. However, I quickly separated the troublemakers, stopped a love-struck Aurora from squashing a none-the-wiser Kiba to death and swiftly removed Cairo from my ankle who had suctioned himself to me to get away from Monty and Meloi. The only one who stood still, behaving herself throughout the whole ordeal was a rather bemused Indigo.

"All right, all right, since you lot can't behave properly when I let you out of your Pokeballs," I reprimanded the troublemakers, pointing to each of the rowdy ones in turn. "You'll have to wait your turns."

They all looked at me as if to say "Wait for what?"

With a flourish, I produced the basket of luxury Poffins that had been my winnings from yesterday's competition. "I have a couple of treats for you! They're special Poffins made to increase things like your attack and defence!"

I almost got knocked over when Meloi lunged for me and wrapped herself around my waist, nuzzling into me and looking up to me with wide, adoring eyes. "Meloi?" I gasped, at this sudden, uncharacteristic show of affection.

I realised quickly that all she was doing was sucking up to me. Trying to win favour so that she would get her treats quicker than the others. I chuckled and pushed her down to the ground again. "Nice try, Meloi. But no."

Her ears drooped sadly and she trudged back into line dejectedly. I smiled after her fondly and then began to line up the twelve Poffins I had. This was a real mixed bag of Poffins I had ended up with. I had two or three of some flavours but only one of others. I realised that arguments could possibly crop up if some Pokemon liked the same flavours.

"Okay Indigo, since you were the only one not making a show of yourself, you can take first pick."

Indigo looked a little surprised, but ambled forward all the same and helped herself to a pretty blue Poffin which she crunched up happily. She then took her place back in line next to Cairo.

I waited for a few moments expectantly, as if something noticeable would change with Indigo, but nothing happened. I wasn't altogether sure _what _I expected to happen, but for some reason I thought that something should change in her outward appearance, like she would get bigger or leaner or _something_. But nothing happened. I wanted to wait and see if something happened, thinking that maybe it would just take a while but my other Pokemon were becoming increasingly restless, eyeing the Poffins hungrily. Giving in, I decided to let them get on with it.

"All right. Kiba, pick one,"

After Kiba had sauntered off and demolished a red Poffin, I allowed the next Pokemon up. Cairo went next, followed by Aurora, Monty (who took his sweet time picking one to his tastes) and finally Meloi. Each wasn't shy about taking the Poffin that he or she wanted. I had six Poffins left by the time each Pokemon took their first pick, which I was glad of as it was only fair to allow each Pokemon a second one and that no-one was left out. I divided up the remaining Poffins between the Pokemon myself and miraculously managed to give each one a Poffin they liked!

Once the Poffins were completely gone I decided to throw myself straight into training. I was eager to see how Indigo and Cairo battled and how much of a difference the Poffins had made to the other four. But for the moment, I decided that Cairo and Indigo needed a bit more attention than the others did, and decided to focus on them.

I had purposefully chosen this area for training as I recognised the telltale signs of Pokemon habitats around it. Sootopolis City was a strange city, I had to admit that, built straight into the rock of an old, dormant volcano and surrounded by water. There were no Pokemon to be found here apart from the occasional school of water Pokemon, but that was all I needed. I had found an area shielded from the view of the houses, even the ones built high into the cliff face and right next to a body of water, sporting the telltale signs of Pokemon habitats. I decided to wait and bide my time until I spotted some Pokemon to battle against.

I didn't have to wait very long. A pair of Tentacool sprung up from the water's edge as soon as my shadow and the shadows of my Pokemon drifted across the water. I grinned at the new opponents and decided to get right into action.

"Indigo, use Psybeam! Cairo, Bite!"

Indigo threw herself straight into the fight, expelling a powerful beam of colourful light towards one of the Tentacool, knocking it straight back into the water. It sunk below the surface, completely knocked out. I cheered happily as one went down, but my joy was short-lived. Moments later the second Tentacool blasted an oddly powerful Bubblebeam towards Cairo, who was standing motionless, quivering with fear at the sight of his opponent. I yelled the order for Cairo to evade, but he was too slow. The bubbles slammed into Cairo's little body, sending him flying backwards.

"Cairo!" I scooped up the little ant Pokemon out of the way of further harm. "Indigo, use Stomp, now!"

Without the slightest hesitation, Indigo leaped high into the air and brought her diamond-hard hooves down on the Tentacool's body, and then swiftly kicked it away.

"Good work, Indigo," I patted her on the head, commending her skills. Cairo on the other hand was whimpering in my arms, cowering into me. I sighed sadly. Whilst Indigo seemed to be a natural battler, it was horribly obvious that Cairo was not. I could see a lot of work with him for the foreseeable future.

Deciding that really Cairo was at a disadvantage, considering all the Pokemon that lived around here were Water types and he was a Ground type I decided to move away and find some trainers. I motioned to Indigo to follow and had literally just turned my back when a spray of something wet blasted into the back of my head.

Ice cold water was running all down my back, soaking me through to the bone. I turned around in my fright and came face to face with a small bipedal blue Pokemon that looked a little like an upright crocodile. A Croconaw!

It looked at me and its fierce jaws broke into what anyone would have said was a maniacal grin. I blinked at it dumbly for a moment too long and was rewarded with a faceful of water expelled from its mouth!

"In the name of—!" I gasped, now totally soaked from head to toe. Cairo, also dripping wet, was squeaking and squirming in my arms, clawing at my arms with his tiny needle-like claws, trying to break loose. "Indigo, use Stomp, now!"

As Indigo bounded into action, the Croconaw laughed throatily, effortlessly leapt out of the way and blasted another torrent of water straight towards me. I didn't expect this one and took it full on in the face, sending me flat on my back.

Cairo let out a screech and managed to wriggle free as I spat a fountain of water all over myself. The Croconaw nearby was literally rolling on the ground laughing at my expense.

"Why you—" I snarled to myself, trying to get to my feet, but I was immediately knocked down _again_ by another blast of water.

"Typhoon! No! Stop that!"

I wiped the water from my eyes and blinked, trying to clear them. I was soaked from head to foot and I was definitely _not _happy. Just in front of me, I saw a young boy of about ten or eleven wrestling with the laughing Croconaw.

He turned to me as soon as he saw me get to my feet. "I am so sorry, miss!"

The boy had bright red hair flopping over a slightly tanned and muddy face and he was wearing a strange uniform and carrying a weird device, neither of which I recognised. He was also wearing a bright red blush and looked both horrified and embarrassed at the same time.

"Is that your Croconaw?" I asked him.

"Yes, Miss…" he murmured, looking at his feet, his blush deepening.

"Well, you should keep better control of him," I scolded him lightly. "If he's going to misbehave, you should keep him in his Pokeball."

The little boy's murmured something and looked firmly to the ground, his hair slipping over his eyes. Somehow looking at him, I was reminded of Nikki's little brother, Scott. That hot-headed little pain in the neck was probably taking on Gyms all over Hoenn by now. I found myself wondering how he was doing…

"I'm sorry, but I don't keep Typhoon in a Pokeball."

"Why not?" I asked, as Cairo shuffled back up to me, whimpering for comfort and attention. "Do you not have a Pokeball?" I felt sorry for this little boy and began rummaging in my bag. I produced a spare Pokeball and offered it to him. "Here, look. Use this."

"No, no, miss, you don't understand!" he waved away my offer. "I'm a Pokemon Ranger, I don't use Pokeballs."

I frowned and crossed my arms. "A Pokemon Ranger? What's that?"

"Well, it's like…" the boy pondered this for a moment. "We don't use Pokeballs to catch Pokemon, we use Stylers!" he flashed me the strange device in his hand. "Oh, and we can only keep one Pokemon with us all the time! That's our partner! But we can capture others to help us on our missions with our Capture Stylers!"

I blinked. Some explanation. I had never heard of these "Pokemon Rangers" before and the boy's explanation had done little to clear things up. All his explanation had done was confuse me further and open up a whole _new_ list of questions. "Okay," I humoured him. "So…what are you doing here?"

"Me and Typhoon came to visit my grandparents," he said, and a sad look appeared on his face as he glanced as his Pokemon. "But he ran off before I could reach the house…He…he always misbehaves…"

I was shocked to see the little boy with tears in his eyes. "He never does what I tell him to do!" he cried. "He _never _listens! He's always so naughty! It's like he's bad on purpose! And the lead ranger says if I can't control him, they'll take away my ranger licence! I don't know what to do…"

Naturally, I sympathized with the boy. I walked up to him and awkwardly patted him on the shoulder. "It's okay," I soothed him as he cried softly. "All trainers have trouble with their Pokemon at first. All you have to do is just work and it and everything will turn out all ri—WAH!"

Naturally, I didn't expect to be tackled to the ground by the devil Croconaw again and have it cackle evilly above me as I hit the deck.

I let out a long, tortured sigh, counting to ten in my head. "_Why is it always _ME!_"_

"I'm so sorry!" the boy wailed.

"Its okay," I said, heaving my soaking body to my feet. I was beginning to understand the problem here. It was exactly the same issue that had plagued me and Meloi way back when I had become a trainer. I could recognise that a mile off. Luckily, I knew how to remedy it. "Listen," I said, addressing the boy. "About your Croconaw… I know getting your Pokemon to obey you is tough, believe me. My first Pokemon never listened to me at first either. But you have to remember that Pokemon aren't being "bad" on purpose…"

He just mumbled back at me incoherently.

"Can I ask you something?" I inquired softly.

He looked at me through watery eyes. "Yeah…"

"Do you trust your Croconaw?"

The sudden question seemed to baffle him. "Do I trust…Typhoon?" he repeated, looking at the mischievous Croconaw. "Umm… well…emm…"

"See." I said softly. "That's your problem. If you don't trust your Pokemon, _really _trust him, you can't expect him to listen to you."

"But… he's so naughty all the time…"

"Give him a chance," I appealed. "You'll be surprised what he can do if you just trust him and give him a chance. It might not be that he's naughty, is that he's "spirited", you know?" I found myself smiling a little at this. "Tell you what; have you and your Croconaw ever done much battling?"

He blinked in surprise. "Not really, miss. Not since he evolved anyway… when he evolved, he just suddenly got so naughty… he wasn't like that at all when he was a Totodile. And now I'm always scared he won't do as I say…"

"Perfect," I grinned. I had just proven my theory right and even better, knew how to fix the issues between trainer and Pokemon. "You and I are going to battle. Right now."

"What?" he gasped, his round eyes wide with genuine shock. "No, miss! I can't! Typhoon doesn't ever listen to me! If I start battling he'll just cause trouble! I can't do it!"

"Yes, you can." I told him firmly. "Now come on, let's do it."

After some gentle encouragement, the boy finally gave in and we took our positions at either end of an arranged battlefield. As the boy tried to get his Croconaw to move into the centre of the field, I pondered over which Pokemon to use. Recalling Cairo and Indigo, I decided to go for Monty. I didn't want to give myself too much of an advantage by using Meloi or too little of a disadvantage by using Kiba. Monty was a safe, neutral choice.

"Let's go, Monty!" I threw Monty's Pokeball into the centre of the field and in a flash of light, his highness himself appeared. He sat on his haunches, looking decidedly bored and began licking his paws as the boy ended up _dragging _his Croconaw to the place he wanted him to be.

"I'll start this off," I said. "Monty, use Bite!"

At my instruction, Monty immediately stopped preening himself and took off at a dash towards the Croconaw. Croconaw squeaked when he saw the Persian closing in on him, and darted around to look back at the boy for either reassurance or a command. I grinned. I had expected this to happen…

The boy was so shocked by his Croconaw's uncharacteristic behaviour that he couldn't even think of issuing a command. The Croconaw couldn't do anything either and soon found Monty's vicious jaws embedded in its lower back. I found myself a little taken aback at Monty's strength and speed! There had been a noticeable jump since last time I had battled with him. Those luxury Poffins really _had _worked!

"Typhoon!" the boy cried out tearfully.

"You see that?" I shouted across to him as Monty let him go. "You think your Croconaw is being naughty, but in reality, he can't make a move without your help. He trusts _you_. Maybe its time for you to trust him?"

The little boy looked genuinely taken aback at this development.

"Let's try again," I told him. "This time, give your Pokemon an order. And remember, you have to _trust _that he'll follow it through. Have a little faith in him and you'll be surprised what happens."

"Okay…" he nodded.

"Monty, let's use Bite again!" I said, deliberately choosing to keep my attacks at the basic level. This boy didn't look like he had much battling experience.

Monty began closing in on the Croconaw again. For a moment, the boy stayed stationary and said nothing, as did his Croconaw. I tensed, fully expecting the boy to miss his chance again. But this time I was surprised.

"Typhoon! Dodge!"

It was a basic command, but the look on the boy's face was priceless when his Croconaw obediently dodged out of the way. A wide grin appeared and his eyes shone with happiness. Then determination appeared in those rounded brown eyes.

"Typhoon! Use Bubblebeam!"

"Ohohoho!" I laughed as the Croconaw listened and blasted a jet of wicked fast bubbles straight towards Monty. "You're getting it now! Monty, jump up high and then use Fury Swipes!"

Monty effortlessly sailed above the Croconaw's head and came down on it like a ton of bricks, delivering fast and effective swipes to its body. Croconaw let out a shriek of pain as Monty's razor sharp claws scraped across its hide.

"Typhoon!" the boy wailed.

"Don't give up!" I urged.

"Ri…right!" he said. "Typhoon, use Bubblebeam again!"

"Dodge and counter with Faint Attack!"

In the end, although the boy and his Croconaw put up a valiant fight, Monty was able to take out the Croconaw after only a few direct hits. The boy was obviously crushed at his loss, especially as he took his injured and unconscious Croconaw in his arms, but I was eager to remind him of how much we had achieved.

"See, what'd I tell you?" I said softly, kneeling down to his level. "A little trust, that's all it takes. You may have lost, but you gained a lot more than you think…"

"I know…" the boy nodded. "That was the first time since Typhoon evolved from a Totodile that he's ever listened to me properly…"

"Sometimes when Pokemon evolve, they think they're too powerful to listen to their trainers anymore," I told him. "So they act up and misbehave, which makes their trainers lose trust in them. See how it all goes in a cycle?"

The boy nodded.

"When I first got my Pokemon, she never listened to me until I started to trust her," I explained. "But you managed to trust your Croconaw enough to let him battle again, so he listened to you."

"I see…" the boy nodded.

"You need to keep trusting Croconaw," I told him, finding myself inexplicably blushing a little. "Do that, and you'll be fine."

The boy looked up at me with adoring eyes. "Thank you, miss."

I smiled and ruffled his hair, eager to break away from the sentimentality again. "No problem, kid. Now what do you say we head to the Pokemon centre and get Typhoon healed up?"

"Yeah!"

"Oh, and by the way," I grinned at him as we made our way to the Sootopolis Pokemon Centre. "You did pretty good in that battle."

"Yeah! And Pokemon Rangers don't battle that often!"

"They don't?" I blinked in confusion. "So what the hell do they do?"

"Mostly go on missions and stuff," he said lightly.

"Right, right…" I murmured to myself. Getting straight answers out of this kid was like pulling teeth…

* * *

After successfully getting the boy's (who's name I discovered to be Daniel Morris), Croconaw healed up, I found I was intrigued to find out more about the Pokemon rangers. Daniel explained to me as best he could, bless him, but I didn't find out that much. I was however allowed to play around with his Capture Styler.

The Capture Styler was an odd device. That was my conclusion, at any rate. You were expected to use it to draw rings around the Pokemon you wanted to capture, but the links that were established between Ranger and Pokemon were only temporary. You weren't allowed to keep any more than one Pokemon with you at all times.

"Wow, this is so weird!" I laughed as I tried and failed to snag a Tentacool with Daniel's Capture Styler.

Daniel giggled from nearby as the Tentacool disappeared into the water, shooting a blob of poison at me, which I managed to evade, for my cheek. "It gets easier with practice!"

"Wow, considering you don't even get to _keep _the Pokemon you capture after all that work, I feel a bit cheated…" I grinned, handing it back to Daniel.

Daniel's face suddenly fell. "But that could change…"

I frowned. "What do you mean?"

Daniel looked at me. "Well… I'm not supposed to know this, but…"

"But…?" I pressed him.

"Well…my ranger boss has been talking about people who are trying to change the Capture Stylers…"

"Change it?"

"Yeah…" he nodded, bringing his knees up to his chin. "Someone was kidnapped about it…"

"Kidnapped?" I repeated shrilly.

"Uh-huh. Someone who's in charge of making Stylers and who knows all about how they work was kidnapped by a bunch of men one day about five months ago… my ranger boss thinks they took him because they wanted to make some kind of new technology to capture Pokemon…"

Those words set off alarm bells in the back of my mind. What was it Alakazam had told me back in the Safari Zone…?

"_They are working on creating the ultimate capture device_!"

"Daniel… do you know anything else about this?" I asked him seriously.

"I'm not supposed to talk about it," he retracted, looking uncomfortable.

I understood that, but to be honest, I didn't care. I needed this information. "It's okay, Daniel. You can trust me."

He looked at me for a moment and thought about it. "Okay…"

I breathed a deep sigh of relief.

"Well, my ranger boss thinks they're trying to make something that's a cross between a Styler and a Pokeball. They say if you have that, you can capture any Pokemon in the world! Without even having to battle it first."

"_With that type of technology at their fingertips they could capture any Pokemon in the world as easily as a Pokemon Master would catch a Pidgey or Rattata_!"

"Daniel, how do you know all this?" I asked him seriously.

He looked at me sheepishly. "Sometimes I listen at the door of their meetings when I come back from my missions…"

"You shouldn't really do that," I told him, just to keep up appearances but my heart wasn't in the scold. Besides, I reminded myself, he hadn't listened at the door back then, I would never have gotten this information I had now.

Was it possible my dad and his team were the ones who had captured the man in charge of making Capture Stylers? Alakazam had told me that my dad and his people were making the "ultimate" capture device, and from what Daniel had told me, the word was that they were trying to create something using both Pokeball and Capture Styler technology to create something that could catch _any _Pokemon without having to battle it. If that wasn't "ultimate capture device", I didn't know what was.

"Why do you want to know all this, Miss?"

"I told you, it's Sienna," I reminded him. "And no reason, really. Just curious."

He looked at me, and then checked his Pokegear for the time. Seeing that it had gotten later than he expected, his eyes bulged and he got straight to his feet. "I'm sorry Miss Sienna, but I need to go home now!"

"That's okay, Daniel." I grinned at him.

"Typhoon, let's go!" he called out.

The Croconaw burst out of the water where he had been playing with my Aurora and obediently toddled up to Daniel.

"Thank you for everything, Miss Sienna!" he said and wrapped his arms around me in a brief hug, before taking off in the direction of the houses, waving enthusiastically. His Croconaw took off after him, chirruping happily.

"Bye, Daniel!" I grinned, watching him go.

I waited until he was out of my sight and out of earshot before I let my hand droop to my side and a serious look spread across my face. I had seen how the Capture Styler had worked, I understood how it captured Pokemon but I had to admit I couldn't see the potential that this type of technology had… but then again, I was no scientist. I didn't understand the complex ins and outs of capture device technology. I couldn't even understand the physics of how Pokeballs work…

What Daniel told me had worried me. Was it possible my dad and his people had kidnapped the Capture Styler technician? To create this "ultimate capture device" Alakazam had warned me about? For me, there was no doubt. It made sense. If what Daniel had said was true, and someone had been kidnapped to try and make some kind of technology using both Capture Styler and Pokeball technology, then I knew for sure it was my dad behind it. And that was the technology they were going to use to capture Kyogre.

This situation was getting grave. I still had six days to go until Wallace returned, at least that long until the team of trainers Professor Oak had promised me turned up and just about two weeks to get trained up and ready to take on my dad and his people… There were so many questions I wanted to get answers to…questions from when this whole thing started… to questions that had just cropped up now…

It was time to start taking action.

* * *

**Author's Note**

**Another wee filler chapter for you. Don't worry, we're nearly at the end of the filler and at least this one and the next one push the plot on a little. **

**I'm glad that most people responded well to the last chapter! I'm sorry if you don't like filler, but I don't want this fic to be action action action all the time. **

**Next chapter though: Sienna takes on Sootopolis Gym!**

**WildCroconaw: Aww, thank you very much!**

**Anonymous: Don't worry, the filler is almost done and things should pick up soon.**

**Something dictionary related: Aww, thank you. I'm glad you liked it so much! And also, thank you for pointing out that little typo :)**

**Kai-chan94: More like thank you for reading it. :)**

**Splashstorm: Aww, I'm getting spoiled from all the nice things you say. Well, Meloi being Meloi, she's always a little late to evolve, but I can confirm she will evolve VERY soon, as will another member of Sienna's team. I will write a series of short ficlets about the Spirited characters and then finish Opposites Attract. If I can come up with a good storyline I may write a Spirited sequel. **

**I only have another three reviews to go until the big 2-0-0 reviews! :) I think I should do something special for the person who gives me that review... but I don't know what. **

**Please read and review!**


	39. Epitome of Elegance

Six days later, I stood at the front of Sootopolis Gym as the doors swung open, ready to accept budding challengers for the first time in a week. Six days of solid training had done wonders for my team. Monty was stronger and faster than I ever had seen him, Indigo and Kiba were coming on in leaps and bounds, Cairo was… getting there, I guess and Aurora and Meloi… well, they had certainly "improved", that was for sure…

As I walked into Sootopolis gym, I was immediately cornered by two burly looking Pokemon trainers demanding to know my business here. I was a little taken aback, but refused to be intimidated.

"I need to speak to the Gym Leader,"

They exchanged looks and looked back at me, sternly. "You cannot see him."

"Why not!" I demanded. "The Gym's opened! I can see the leader!"

"If you want to see the leader, you must battle him." One of the trainers said. "It's the rules."

"Are you kidding me?" I screeched. I had already wasted seven days doing nothing but training, and although I _had _made progress, I was still only one person! No matter how much stronger I had become, there was still no way I could stop all those people on my own, especially since I hadn't heard from that team of trainers Professor Oak had promised. I needed to get Wallace on my side _now _without any more distractions!

"Wallace won't speak to anyone unless you battle him."

"Oh, you _are_ joking…" I groaned. "_Not more bloody brick walls!"_

Alarm bells were setting off in the back of my mind. Wallace was the last Gym Leader in the Hoenn Gym Challenge Circuit, the last stop before the Pokemon League. Fair enough, I had managed to train my Pokemon up to levels I never thought they could achieve, but Wallace was rumoured to be one of the strongest Pokemon trainers outside of the Pokemon League! I had only ever managed to defeat one Gym Leader in my Pokemon training career! But then again, I didn't have much of a choice. The only way to speak to Wallace was to battle him…

I guess battling Wallace was the best way to discover if my six days of training _had _made a difference.

"Okay, fine." I gave up. "I'll battle him,"

* * *

Ten minutes later, I was escorted into a giant battleground, completely covered in ice save for a giant pool of water in the middle. _Everything _that wasn't the pool seemed to be made out of ice! From the floor, to the stands, to seats, everything was glittering as the light caught it, a beautiful pearly, icy blue. The temperature was way below freezing; that much was for definite, and I pulled my thin jacket tighter around my shoulders, trying to keep warm. I could see my breath mist in front of me as I inhaled and exhaled.

"_Another Water master, I think…_" I deduced, looking at my icy and watery surroundings. "_Well I guess Meloi is going to come in useful here. Just like my battle with Misty… wow, that seems so long ago._"

I kept my eyes peeled for any signs of the Gym Leader, Wallace. Eventually, at one end of the Gym, my eyes touched on a figure in white. I squinted and took a few cautious steps forward on the slippery ice, nearly falling on my backside as a result.

The figure was tall, thin, cloaked in a long, elegant white robe. I could make out a shock of turquoise hair framed by a white cap. He stood tall, holding himself with refined poise and even as he walked forward, he seemed to glide, not walk. The rumours I had heard about Wallace's obsession with beauty and grace were proved true. He really was the epitome of elegance…

"Are you Wallace?" I asked him timidly, my voice cracking with sudden

"Indeed, I am." He said, fixing his eyes, an almost exact shade of turquoise as his hair, on me. "And who are you?"

"My name is Sienna," I managed to instil a little false bravado. "And I need your help,"

"My help?" he looked at me oddly. "Did you not come here to battle?"

"Forget battling! Please, this is a matter of life and death!" I appealed.

He raised one perfect eyebrow at me, a frown . "You must understand, I get many trainers appealing to me by claiming it is "life-or-death, and none of them have ever been legitimate. What makes you think you can trick me like that?"

I blinked, horrified. "I'm not _trying _to trick you!" I insisted frantically. "I need your help! Really, I'm telling you the truth!"

"Enough," he said with a flourish of his white cape, making me flinch.

"But Wallace—"

"Whatever it may be, it can wait until after we battle. If it means so much to you, then perhaps it will give you motivation to win!"

I was stumped. No matter what I said or did, I _had _to battle him now!

"Now, that that unpleasantness is over, allow me to formally introduce myself," Wallace drew himself back to his full height, any traces of annoyance disappearing immediately from his face to be replaced with a refined air. "My name is Wallace. I am the leader of the Sootopolis Gym. My Pokemon are all of the Water type, of grace and elegance…" A thin, confidant smile tugged at his face. "…and who are as powerful and unpredictable as water itself. Now, show me… show me how _you _dance with _your _Pokemon!"

With a flash, Wallace had thrown his white cape to the ground, revealing a skinnier frame than I had thought, a pair of well cut purple trousers, and a well tailored crisp white and teal blue jacket with a stiff collar. Before I even knew what was happening, he had thrown a Pokeball above the water and a Pokemon burst out into the water, with a small splash.

A strange heart shaped pink fish Pokemon appeared in the water. "Luv! Luvdisc!"

Wallace was starting small, I noticed as I looked around Sootopolis gym, trying to figure out a strategy. There weren't any floating platforms in this gym like there had been back in Cerulean, only a couple of tiny icy circles that didn't look at all safe for Pokemon to stand on... That meant it was going to be even more difficult for Pokemon like Meloi, Monty and Indigo to land hits (I was discounting Cairo and Kiba due to their type disadvantages), so that meant for a different course of action.

I was already beginning to notice the similarities between my Gym battle with Misty and the one I was about to have with Wallace… well, as long as I didn't get blown up at the end of it, I didn't really care either way…

"Let's go, Aurora!" I shouted, tossing her Pokeball into the water.

Excitement gripped me. This was to be the first time I was going to use the new and improved Aurora in battle! The Pokeball exploded in a blast of light and Aurora landed with a huge splash that soaked everything. A moment later, she resurfaced and let out a cry.

"Seal! Sealeo!"

A little grin touched on my face. My little baby Spheal had become strong enough to evolve into Sealeo! I couldn't be prouder! She wasn't the little childish Spheal, always rolling around and causing trouble anymore… Things had changed in more than one way for her… She was older, more mature and not a slave to her old childlike ways…

"Seal! Seal! Sealeo!" she cried out happily, smacking her fins together enthusiastically, riding the rippling waves.

"_Damn my Pokemon, always proving me wrong…_" I muttered inwardly to myself as Sealeo began bobbing up and down like a life buoy. "_Who cares if she is as immature and childish as she always was, but she's stronger… and that's what matters right now._"

"A fine specimen of a Sealeo," Wallace commended me, inspecting Aurora as she swam around in the waves. "Not on par with my own, of course, but still… you have done a good job raising her."

I found myself a little taken aback by the unexpected compliment from someone as high profile as Wallace, especially at the start of a battle.

"No matter though, I will take her down!" Wallace's voice grew cold again. "Elizabeth, use Water Pulse, now!"

I snapped into action straight away. "Aurora, dive underwater!"

Wallace's Luvdisc took no time at all to ready its attack and Aurora was only just able to dive underwater to avoid it. The attack was so powerful that even I had to dodge out of the way of the blast of water as it came near me!

After recovering my balance on the ice, I took an opportunity. "Aurora! Underwater Tackle attack now!"

Aurora had dived so deep under the water that it was near to impossible for the Luvdisc to see her until it was too late. The impact of Aurora's rounded, hefty body into the delicate frame of the Luvdisc sent it flying high in the air.

"Elizabeth!" Wallace gasped in surprise.

"Now, Ice Ball!" I commanded.

Still in the air from the force she had created for her tackle attack, Aurora effortlessly twisted her body around and fired a ball of ice straight for the flying Luvdisc. It encased the Luvdisc in thick ice and the frozen Pokemon hit the water hard, sinking momentarily before floating up to the surface.

Aurora then proceeded to land on top of the frozen Luvdisc in what was probably the best ever impromptu Body Slam I had ever seen.

Wallace swiftly recalled his down and out Luvdisc with as much dignity as he could muster. He looked a little surprised to have been beaten so quickly, but then again, I was quite surprised as well. Aurora, in her newly evolved state was a lot stronger than even _I _had realised.

The battle of the Sealeo commenced next, with Wallace's Sealeo Francoise (what was _with _these pretentious nicknames?) battled my Aurora. Wallace's Sealeo was stronger than I had anticipated, knowing a couple of wicked moves I could only assume had been taught by TM or HM because my Aurora certainly didn't know them. He was particularly fond of Surf and Ice Beam, resulting in a lot of dodging and diving underwater on Aurora's part to evade them, as she certainly couldn't counter them.

Mercifully though, my Aurora managed to get the better of Wallace's with a sneaky signature move, Aurora Beam. Wallace's face was streaked with confusion as his second Pokemon fell to my Sealeo. I was amazed at her newfound strength. However, she was beginning to tire…

Wallace's third Pokemon was a Whiscash named Philipe. Philipe, being a dual Ground _should _by all rights have been slightly easier to take on, but Wallace had trained his Whiscash well with horrendously strong Physical attacks to make up for the added weakness. Aurora was taking a pounding.

Wallace's strategies with Whiscash were incredibly thought out. He made Philipe use Earthquake to shake the whole gym and knock Aurora off balance and struggle to swim through the giant waves caused from the underwater Earthquake. When Aurora was struggling, Philipe delivered a vicious Zen Headbutt that sent Aurora flying backwards into the wall of the pool. She flopped back into the water, floating, totally unconscious. I had no choice but to recall her with a heavy heart. She was the only one I could use to get close to Wallace's Water Pokemon and I couldn't trust any of my others on the flimsy looking ice circles dotting the pool. I had to pick a Pokemon with long range attacks. I couldn't use Meloi; her electric attacks would be useless against a Ground type. Kiba and Cairo were out for similar reasons. Monty was a possibility, but then again, I didn't think he would take too well to the water. So I was left with…

"Indigo! Use Psybeam!"

I managed to time it perfectly that as soon as Whiscash bounced out of the water to blast Indigo with a Mud Bomb, Indigo fought back with a powerful Psybeam. The Psybeam hit the Whiscash straight on in the face, sending the Pokemon straight in the water. Whilst the attack didn't knock out the Whiscash, it confused it. The Whiscash ended up attacking itself and in its state of confusion was a sitting duck for a final Psychic attack.

Wallace was now on his fourth and final Pokemon. I was elated! I had never expected that fighting the eighth Gym Leader of Hoenn would be so easy! I was only one Pokemon away from winning! And that meant only one Pokemon away from talking to Wallace and getting his help!

"I see…" Wallace said reflectively, after swiftly recalling his Whiscash. "Your Pokemon battle superbly well… you are a commendable trainer for your age. But you have not won yet. Be prepared to feast your eyes on the most splendid display of elegance you will ever see!"

And with that, Wallace drew back his arm and let loose his fourth and final Pokemon. I almost fell over backwards when it was revealed to be none other than a Milotic! It was a giant, elegant serpentine Pokemon, taking up almost the whole of the pool by itself. Its long red whiskers twitched inquisitively, its scaly colourful tail glinted and shone and sparkled like precious gems, and it cooed musically as it set its glimmering eyes on Indigo.

I knew this Pokemon was beautiful, and Wallace was right, it was the epitome of elegance and grace, from its stunningly beautiful looks to the graceful way it twisted its way around the water, moving its head and elongating its long slim body like it was a model posing for a hundred adoring fans. But I also knew it was a dangerous Pokemon to contend with. I realised with a crushing disappointment that that one Pokemon could easily take out the three Pokemon I had remaining.

Nevertheless I battled on, but things weren't going my way now as Indigo fell victim to a nasty Hydro Pump and was knocked out after only managing to land a couple of Confusion attacks on the Milotic. I decided to let Monty take a crack at it, hoping to use his Faint Attack to my advantage. Whilst the idea worked at first and I managed to get the Milotic momentarily stunned from Monty's disappearance and take a decent amount of damage, the Milotic retaliated with a vicious Aqua Tail that sent poor Monty straight into the pool of water. He began to panic, flailing uselessly in the water until Milotic flung him out with its tail, right into a wall.

"Monty!" I recalled him swiftly.

"Well, well, well…" I heard Wallace's cool, smooth voice from nearby. "This is an interesting development. An all out, one-on-one battle to see whose Pokemon is the most graceful, and most elegant."

His attitude was starting to get on my nerves. "Battling isn't all about grace and elegance, you know?" I quipped.

Wallace chuckled. "Perhaps not to you, my dear."

"Hmph…" My hand grasped Meloi's Pokeball. "Well I'm sorry… if you want grace and elegance, I'm afraid I can't give it to you with this Pokemon."

Wallace's eyebrows furrowed together. "Is that so? So, what _can _you give me?"

A wide grin stretched across my face and I clutched the Pokeball hard, putting all my faith in this one chance. "Spirit."

I threw the Pokeball. With an explosion of white light, an impressive, tall, long-necked silhouette appeared to face Milotic. The figure was of the brightest yellow, with black stripes adorning her neck, ears and tail and bright red crystals sitting on her head and the end of her tail. Upon seeing the giant serpentine Pokemon in front of her, she was not at all intimidated. In fact, it only seemed to make her puff herself up to a greater height, causing electrical sparks to fly all around her, as if _she_ was trying to intimidate the _Milotic_. Static energy collected all over her yellow body and she let out a cry that said to anyone "Come on then! Who wants it!"

"Amph-a-_ros_!"

I could never get tired of seeing Meloi as an Ampharos.

"Meloi!" I grinned. "Thunderbolt, now!"

"Amph! Amph!" Meloi began gathering electrical energy readying her attack.

"Use Surf now!"

However, before Meloi had gathered enough energy to blast Milotic with one of her most powerful attacks, Milotic sent forth a giant wave of water that Meloi just couldn't evade. Swept up in the water, she lost concentration and she was slammed into a wall.

Dazed, but definitely not out, Meloi tried again. However, Wallace decided that this was a good enough strategy to keep doing and every time Meloi attempted to launch an attack, she was cut off straight away.

"_Damn! That Milotic is just too quick!_" I cursed. "_I need to slow it down!_"

"Meloi, use Cotton Spore!"

It was worth a shot, I guess, but unfortunately it didn't work. Even though the cottony puffs managed to stick to Milotic, successfully slowing it down, Milotic simply submerged its body underwater, easily washing off the spores.

"_I need something more permanent!_" I thought, rapidly giving Meloi the order to dodge from an incoming Hydro Pump.

"Meloi, Thunder Wave!"

Thunder Wave took only a fraction of the time an attack like Thunderbolt or Thunder did to gather energy and Meloi thankfully managed to execute this one before another wave of water slammed into her body. Milotic's body seized up and it was noticeably struggling to move any more than an inch or so at a time.

"No!" I heard Wallace shout.

Excitement coursed through my body, oddly reminiscent of when Meloi shocked me when she tried out her new attacks for the first time. "Meloi, use Thunderpunch!"

Meloi balled her first and electrical energy began to gather around her body and streamed into her fist, crackling and spitting. Next thing, she was running towards the stationary Milotic. Seconds later, she had leaped into the air and slammed her electric fist straight into Milotic's snake-like body.

Somehow though, even an attack of that calibre didn't knock out Milotic! It stayed very much conscious and even worse, to my extreme disbelief and horror, seemed to recover from its paralysis! It then responded with backing as far away into the pool as it could, away from Meloi and blasting an Ice Beam attack in her direction.

"Meloi, dodge!" I screamed.

She managed to, just.

"Meloi, use Thunder!"

"Dragon Pulse!" Wallace bellowed.

Both attacks needed time to ready and my whole body shuddered with anticipation. When the attacks were expelled, they collided head on. There was a massive rumble that shook straight through the entire Gym and under the floor and then a massive explosion. I heard the sounds of cracks ripping through the ice and moments later saw, and felt, shards of ice falling all around me. The attacks had cancelled each other out, but caused no damage to either party. I ended up screaming my commands to Meloi, desperate to let out some of this pent up agitation and fear.

"Come on, Meloi! Thunderpunch again!"

"Aqua Tail!"

Milotic lunged for Meloi with its giant tail, but somehow Meloi was able to dodge. She used Milotic's body like a springboard, managing to project herself higher and closer to her enemy. And then, she struck.

The second Thunderpunch still was not enough to knock the Milotic out completely, but it was enough to momentarily stun the Milotic; allowing Meloi to jump back to the side of the pool, out of harms way.

"Now, Meloi! Thunder!"

The Thunder attack ripped through Milotic with wicked force and a deep rumbling, like the noises of a stormy night. That was the finisher. Milotic was shocked right through to the core, left frazzled and very very unconscious.

Wallace's face dropped. "I… I lost?"

I almost fell to the floor in my relief. Meloi happily danced around my feet as I tried to compose myself.

Wallace looked me up and down, and then chuckled. "Very well, I concede defeat. Your skills took me by total surprise, Miss Sienna. Whilst that may not have been the most elegant of battles I have participated in, I cannot deny that your Pokemon indeed do have … how did you describe it…? Ah yes, "spirit"." He walked up to me and pressed the Rain badge into my hand. "Take this badge as proof of your victory here. Your Pokemon may not have danced like a spring breeze, but they most definitely struck like lightning." he smiled. "I recognise your—"

"Wallace, I'm sorry to interrupt," I interjected quickly, making him blink in surprise. "But like I said, I need to speak with you. I don't care about grace or elegance or all that kind of stuff, I just need to talk to you! It's urgent!"

Wallace looked like he had been slapped in the face. "You don't care… about grace or elegance…?"

"No sir." I shook my head. "In fact, I think it's quite a shallow thing to only care about that."

Now he looked like he was going to cry.

"But the fact is, I _need _to talk to you. It's about Kyogre!"

The sadness immediately disappeared away to be replaced with a look of abject anxiety. "Kyogre? What about Kyogre?" he asked, his voice rising highly.

"This is going to be very hard for you to understand, and I know its going to sound totally unbelievable, but you _have _to believe me, Wallace."

"Go on," he urged me.

"Someone is going to try and capture Kyogre," I told him gravely. "And do you know the worst part? They're going to succeed."

"What?"

"Don't ask me how I know this exactly," I appealed to him. "But there is this group of people, right, and it looks like they're trying to capture Legendary Pokemon. Do you remember seeing on the news about four months back, when Mt Chimney erupted?"

"Yes…" he looked thoughtful, and then a flash of realisation crossed his face. "Yes! I knew I'd seen your face before! You were that girl! The one who was interviewed on the television!"

"Yes." I nodded, marvelling momentarily at this lucky break. "I heard rumours of people disappearing there, so I went to look with my friends. But we were kidnapped and held underground! When we eventually escaped, the volcano started to erupt and then… and then we saw Groudon."

"Groudon!"

"Yes. I think the people that kidnapped us wanted to capture Groudon and stuck us underground so we couldn't interfere. But when the Groudon appeared, it destroyed the hideout the people had been using and disappeared again. I think the team there had managed to capture it, but it broke free," I said, remembering how someone had said something like they had "lost control of it". "And now they're going to try again with Kyogre. Only this time they're going to succeed."

"How? And how do you know all this."

"An Alakazam told me," I explained, fully expecting Wallace to ridicule me, but he let me talk on. "He told me that the team who were trying to capture Groudon were working on something that would be an "ultimate capture device". I also have strong suspicions that that team is also responsible for the kidnapping of a scientist specializing in Capture Styler technology."

Wallace looked stunned, trying to take in all this information. "This…this is not good…" he murmured.

"No, it's not." I reaffirmed "And the worst thing is, those people are going after Kyogre in one week from now, according to that Alakazam. So that's why I came here. I need help! I need people to help me stop them!"

"Help _you_?" Wallace repeated, unsure. "What makes you think _you're_ the one who has to stop them?"

"That Alakazam told me I was the only one who could." I said, not really wanting to reveal all the intimate details, but knowing I had to. "He said I was "destined" to be the one to stop them… that I was the only one who could…"

I was surprised Wallace was keeping up with everything I was saying, and even more amazed that heseemed to _believe _me without disputing any of my claims! "Well, how did you get mixed up in this?" he asked, before I could say anything more.

"It all happened when my mum up and left me, leaving me a note saying she was going after my father and an incident in Hoenn…" I explained patiently, finding it strange to be touching on how this whole thing had started way back all those months ago. "So I followed her to Hoenn. That's when I heard about the volcanic eruption, so I knew that her claim about an incident in Hoenn was all real. I think my mother is part of a rival team, going around trying to stop the other team from capturing the Legendary Pokemon. And they always seem to be one step ahead of them too…"

Wallace blinked, seemingly incapable of any coherent speech.

"Oh, and there's one more thing." I added, just for the shock value. "The leader of the team going after the legendary Pokemon is my father."

Wallace gasped. "So _that's_ why you're going after them?"

"Yes." I nodded, determinedly.

"Wow…" Wallace exhaled, putting his hand to his head. "I never expected _this_… perhaps from now on I really _should _be more attentive when people say "it's a matter of life and death"…"

"So you believe me?" I dared to ask.

"Yes, of course I do…" Wallace nodded. "After the disbanding of Teams Aqua and Magma so many years ago, I suspected that something like this may happen again. People were aware of Groudon and Kyogre's existence, it only seems natural someone would try again… I admit, I had my suspicions when I saw the eruption on Mt Chimney, and the claims that people were being kidnapped there…I never thought things would be this grave though…"

"Please Wallace…" I begged. "I need you to help me stop my dad from capturing Kyogre. The Alakazam I met that gave me these predictions said that if Kyogre is captured, terrible things will happen to the world. These people are really strong, trust me! Even though the Alakazam said I was "destined" or whatever to stop my dad from doing this, I can't do it alone! I'm only one person! I need your help!"

"Do not worry," Wallace said, patting my head lightly. "I will be happy to assist. As Gym Leader of Sootopolis, it's only right that my duties cover the protection of Kyogre. You will have my assistance, and assistance of the best Pokemon trainers I know. I have friends in high places, Miss Sienna," he added with a wink.

"Oh, thank you Wallace!" I cried, throwing myself at him to hug him. I felt so happy and so relieved I couldn't stop a few tears from dripping down my cheeks.

He awkwardly patted me on the head and then adopted his official status again. "That is a lot of information to take in… I think I'm going to need you to go over it again so I can get the full story."

"Now!"

"Well, perhaps not now…" he remedied hastily. He took a moment to think. "Sienna, where are you staying at the moment?"

"Where am I staying…?" I repeated just to make sure I had heard him right. "The Pokemon Centre, why?" I said, when he grunted in the affirmative.

"Well, how about you come and stay with me, just so I can get the finer details of everything? It will be easier to plan things out for the attack anyway."

I looked at him. "Really?"

He nodded. "Of course."

I couldn't believe this! Staying with Wallace meant great opportunities to train in peace with no distractions _and _keep myself hidden until the attack. Happiness surged through me and I jumped up and down like a little girl."Thank you, Wallace…thank you so much! Especially for believing me! I thought no-one would…"

"Sometimes you just have to suspend all your beliefs when it comes to things in this world." Wallace said, philosophically. I blinked. The way he had said that… it sounded like it had some significance to him… But all of a sudden, his tone changed and I was left wondering if it had just been my imagination. "Now come, let us get back to my house. We can arrange things there."

And with that, the two of us left his gym for his house, where I was to live for the next week until the attack.

A peculiar mix of feelings was erupting inside me. Relief, happiness, fear… all blowing up in my heart like tiny fireworks, each demanding its own attention. Happy that I had found Wallace and that he had miraculously believed me, relieved at his promise to help me, and fear… fear that now this whole thing seemed so much more real… this was really going to happen. And I had to do all I could to stop it…

This was going to be a tense week…

* * *

**Author's Note**

**I know this update came quick, but I had this chapter and the next one written since a few days ago, so I thought I would submit it.**

**I'm also aiming to have this fic finished by the 8th of February. Think I can do it? **

**I'm also going to take ideas or maybe requests for short ficlets for the short story collection based on the Spirited characters. If anyone has any suggestions or requests, please PM me and I'll do my best to write something you want to read. **

**I've had a few milestones. My 40th chapter is just round the corner, Spirited has racked up over 12,000 views and I got my 200th review yesterday! :) I feel so blessed that my work has been well recieved. **

**Hikaru-pichu: I know what you mean, I enjoyed writing the filler. I think the last chapter really showed how much Sienna has grown since the beginning of the fic. **

**Anonymous: Yes, you were my 150th! :)**

**To whoever gave me my 200th review: Thank you! :) I finally hit 200!**

**Splashstorm: I love getting your reviews! :) Cairo WILL improve. Eventually. :)**

**WildCroconaw: You're gonna have to read on and find out :) Glad you're taking such an interest though! :)**

**Something dictionary related: I was afraid that the changes in Sienna may not have been obvious to anyone but me, so I'm glad y'all picked up on it :) Yes, Daniel will be reappearing. In fact, every character I have used, both canon and OC will be returning for the climax!**

**Next Chapter: reunions... but with who?**

**Please read and review!**


	40. Reunions Part I

It was a cold morning, I thought, as I opened the windows wide to allow the fresh air to try and waken up my tired, sluggish body. The thin air bit at my skin, forcing me awake. I had had almost no sleep lately, but didn't care. Sleep was not high on my list of priorities anymore. Neither was eating, but all the same I reached for the banana I had left by my bedside and ate it absentmindedly, looking out at the city before me, thinking about the finality and the gravity of what tomorrow would bring.

An inexplicable shudder ran through my spine.

Then a voice came from nearby. "Sienna? Are you ready?"

I turned away from the window and saw Wallace, fully dressed and prepared for the day, leaning in at the doorway.

"Yeah." I nodded. "I'm ready..."

"This is our last day of training," Wallace said reflectively, joining me at the window to gaze out at the sleepy city spread out in front of us, still mostly bathed in shadow with only hints of weak sunlight. "We need to make it count. Tomorrow's the day…"

"Yeah…tomorrow's the day…" I echoed.

I looked out at the peaceful scenery across from me. All those people, sleeping idly in their beds… I found myself envying them. They didn't know what was going to happen tomorrow… they hadn't spent the past two weeks in such vicious training as I had… I envied that. I envied their ignorance. I wanted nothing more to be someone who didn't know… someone who didn't have the weight of the world, literally, resting on their shoulders.

But I did know. And it _was _up to me. I couldn't deny that. And I couldn't bury my head in the sand and pretend none of this was happening.

I looked back to face Wallace. "Let's make today a good one."

* * *

"Kiba, Flame Wheel! Indigo, Confusion!"

The cries of Pokemon and noises of battle coincided furiously as the sounds of training rang in my ears. All around me, people were locked in their own fights, each wholly focused on the ultimate goal here. To become as strong as possible as quickly as possible. There were no shortages of tough trainers here for me to challenge, both trainers Wallace had recruited and from the squad Professor Oak had sent up to help. I felt like a seasoned battler now and I had made so much progress. But still I wanted more. Training and battling to become strong was like an addiction now… I couldn't get enough of it.

The day of training passed quickly. Too quickly. Before I knew it, hours had gone by and the dark shadows of the evening crept up.

"All right," Wallace's commanding voice cut across the training grounds, causing everyone to come to a halt immediately. "That's it. We've done all we can."

"No!" I protested at once, being only halfway through my battle with one of the Elite trainers Professor Oak had sent up. "A little more time! Wallace, please!"

"Sienna, enough is enough." Wallace told me gently, but firmly, cutting through my protests. "You've done nothing but training for two weeks. If you're not strong enough now, you never will be. Besides, you must rest. You can't expect to go into a serious battle tomorrow and win if you and your Pokemon are not fully rested."

The other trainers murmured their agreements and I reluctantly gave in. He was right, after all, even though I hated to admit it. With nothing else to do now but simply go back to Wallace's and get some rest like he advised, I left the training grounds with him, whilst the other Elite trainers retired to the Pokemon Centre. I wished them well, and they in turn told me not to worry, that things were going to be fine, that we were going to win. As they said that, my stomach turned in on itself and I broke into a cold, nervous sweat. I wasn't quite sure why…

It was a cool, crisp evening that night, perfectly calm. The sounds of the water gently lapping against the rocks and the occasional caw of a Wingull disrupted the otherwise flawless silence. It was calm. Too calm. Like the world didn't know about the horrors that were going to happen tomorrow…

"I'm going for a shower," I mumbled to Wallace as we entered his home as I realised I hadn't showered in days, and my body was hot, sweaty and quite frankly, a bit stinky.

He nodded. "Go ahead."

I was halfway up the stairs when he decided to add. "By the way, I have guests coming over tonight."

"Guests?" I looked at him, quite shocked. "Guests? Tomorrow a huge gang of extraordinarily powerful trainers are going to attempt to capture Kyogre, and you're having _guests _over for tea!"

"I assure you, it's not like that, Miss Volbeda." He waved off my annoyed manner as if it were nothing. "Actually, I think you'll like the people I have coming round tonight." He said mysteriously.

I frowned. "I'll…_like_ them?"

"Indeed," he winked. "Not only are they incredibly strong Pokemon trainers in their own rights, but I believe you also know them quite well."

I could only blink at him. A million different scenarios, each more unbelievable than the last went rushing through my head at breakneck speed. "What…what do you mean..? Who are—?"

"Now, now, now, run along!" Wallace interrupted me, giving me a good shove in the back as "encouragement". "Go and get yourself prettied up for our guests! They'll be arriving in an hour or so! On you go!"

And with another fierce shove delivered to my back, I took the hint and ran the rest of the way upstairs obediently to get in the shower.

As the warm water washed over my body like summer rain and steam lazily wafted up around me, I found myself pondering Wallace's words. Who on earth were these guests he was talking about? More trainers, maybe to help with tomorrow's attack? No, surely not…Wallace had already recruited trainers from all over Sootopolis to help, and I'm pretty sure he had gotten in touch with people from beyond his own city… in fact, I had a funny feeling that the news of tomorrow's events had started to spread now… People in Sootopolis city seemed to be on edge recently, looking uncomfortable and nervous as they went about their business. In fact, I was almost certain that _at least _the residents of Sootopolis City knew _something _about what was going to happen… And if they didn't… they were going to be in for a shock tomorrow…

I worked the shower gel into a foamy lather and soaped my body with it. As my hands moved up and down my body, I was suddenly aware of how different my body felt. Slimmer, more toned. Before I had been a little rounder with a bit of a belly, but that belly had gone. Now I felt… different. When I raised my hands to my hair to shampoo it I realised how long it was getting. Hair that was once barely within touching distance of my shoulder blades now lay long past them, flirting with the small of my back. I couldn't believe how different how I looked and felt now… and how those changes had happened without even my noticing them.

I got out of the shower, dried and dressed as quickly as I could. I spent a few moments longer in front of the mirror than I normally did, after realising that yes, I did indeed look different. Just to be sure, I dug in my bag for the old photograph I had of myself, Nikki, Jasmine and Scott and gasped when I saw myself. I couldn't believe the difference. Back then, I had been on the short side, a little rounded in all the wrong places and had the assets of an eleven year old boy. Now, I knew I was taller because my old jeans stopped halfway down my calves, the roundness of my figure had disappeared to be replaced with a slimmer frame with a hint of toning, and I discovered with delight that my chest appeared to be growing too! So much so that I could barely squeeze myself into my old bra! A wide grin appeared on my face. So it wasn't _just _my Pokemon that had changed and grown after all. I had too!

And do you want to know the best part? For me, it was the boobs! Yes, I know that sounds a little shallow and all, but even still… It felt good knowing I wouldn't be mistaken for a little kid anymore!

I was practically bounding down the stairs to the living room, revelling in my newfound womanly appearance when I almost collided with Wallace in the hallway on his way out from the kitchen. He was carrying a plate of perfectly cut, tiny little finger sandwiches, arranged daintily on his best serving platter...

"_Jeez, even his _food _has to be elegant…_"

"Sienna!" He grinned happily when he saw me, swinging the platter of sandwiches above my head when I went to help myself. "Our guests are here."

I blinked. I hadn't heard anyone come in. And from my room you could hear _everything_ that went on in the house, believe me. "They're… here? Now?"

"Yes. On you go, into the living room! I bet you're eager to see them!"

"Eager to find out who they _are_, more like…" I muttered darkly as Wallace ran off back to the kitchen, claiming he'd forgotten something.

I was overcome with a deep rooted sense of nervousness as I grasped the door knob. I wondered who the hell was going to be behind that door. I didn't have a clue. From the way Wallace was talking it was like I _knew _who they were. But I honestly didn't have a clue.

"_Well, only one way to find out, I guess…_" I thought nervously and pushed in the door to the living room.

"Hey hey!" a cheery voice rang out as soon as the door swung open. "If it isn't Sienna!"

"No way…" I breathed out in awe as I looked at the two women sprawled out and making themselves quite at home on one of Wallace's best sofas. "Misty? Flannery?"

Both Gym Leaders beamed at me in response.

"Wh…what are you guys doing here?" I asked, flummoxed.

"Wallace asked us," Misty explained simply.

"Yeah," Flannery nodded her agreement. "Wallace wanted to bring in all the Gym Leaders from Kanto and Hoenn to help with this attack on Kyogre tomorrow! He filled everyone in on the whole story."

"The whole story…?" I asked nervously.

"The _whole _story," Misty nodded.

"Oh great…"

"Well," Flannery looked a little unsure of how to continue, but soldiered on anyway. "As much as everyone wanted to be here, some people had to stay behind. You know, to make sure things were kept in order."

"But Flannery and I decided to come and see how you were getting on," Misty added. "It seems weird that that little girl who came and blew herself up in my gym all those months ago is standing here, getting ready to foil an attempt to capture one of the legendary Pokemon! Who'd have thought it!"

"Yeah… I guess so…" I blushed. I still couldn't quite believe Misty and Flannery were here! It had been a long time since I had seen either of them… Misty had been my first ever Gym Leader battle… and Flannery had been there when Groudon was being attacked… it was pretty surreal seeing them again.

"Listen, Sienna." Flannery cut in again. "I admit, when those guys attempted to take off with Groudon… I was worried that something like that would happen again… but never on this scale. Once Wallace called me up to give me the news, I cursed myself for not saying anything back then… for keeping it secret. Perhaps if I had just _said_ something we would have caught those bastards before now…!"

"Don't worry about it, Flannery…" I told her. I too had also regretted my decision to not say anything back then. Perhaps if I had, things would have been different. My dad could have been caught and we wouldn't have been in this situation now. "We're not going to let them get away with it tomorrow. We're going to stop them. We've got all those people Professor Oak sent, all you Gym Leaders and all of Wallace's friends. We're going to stop them!" I said with conviction.

"Let's hope so,"

"It's pretty unbelievable though…" I found myself saying. "All this stuff that's happened… I mean, I go after my mother when she disappears and I find out she's gone after my dad who's head of some criminal gang wanting to capture legendary Pokemon… I mean… that's messed up!" I managed to laugh weakly. I had to laugh. All of a sudden the gravity of everything had hit me and I was afraid that if I didn't laugh, I was going to cry.

There was a long silence.

"We're trying to keep things mostly under wraps." Misty suddenly announced. "As far as we can tell, the incident has managed to be contained and the general public don't know about what's going to happen tomorrow—"

"Well, maybe apart from some residents here," Flannery cut in.

Misty glared at Flannery as she interrupted. I could immediately foretell some fisticuffs with these two in the near future. "Yes, but that's expected. Only the people Professor Oak sent, Wallace and his friends, and the Hoenn and Kanto gym leaders know about it. Wallace suggested keeping it a secret so we can catch these people in the act."

"I see…" I said slowly.

"Frankly, _I _thought it would have been a better idea to let _everyone _know about this!" Flannery announced. "It would have made worldwide news and then those people wouldn't _dare _go near Kyogre!"

Misty grunted in annoyance. "You idiot! It wouldn't have made any difference! Even if we did foil _this _attempt, they would just go into hiding and try again when everything calmed down! Better to catch them in the act and put a stop to it now!"

I couldn't even bother to listen as Flannery and Misty started to squabble. My head was swimming with too many thoughts… as well as that I was beginning to wonder where Wallace had gotten to, especially as he had seemed so eager to be the perfect host.

"Listen," Misty cut in as there was a break in the argument. "I have a confession to make."

That got my attention. "Confession?" I frowned.

"Yeah," she said, looking sad. "We managed to get in contact with your friends Nikki and Jasmine and told them all about this."

"Nikki and Jasmine?" I gasped. Their names sounded alien to me in this setting.

"Yeah. They were pretty shocked," Misty said and I winced inwardly. I could only imagine their reactions to the whole sorry story. "They wanted to come up here straight away to help but—"

Shock spread through me immediately. Nikki and Jasmine wanted to come _here_? "They can't be involved in this!" I insisted at once. "It's too dangerous for them!"

"You didn't let me finish," Misty said tetchily. "You have to understand, it was incredibly difficult for us to find them. We only managed to get in contact with them earlier on today. We found them in Littleroot Town, which means they're too far away to make it for tomorrow."

Relief washed over me and I collapsed into a chair. "Thank God… I can't risk their safety here in this battle…"

"They're going to be here in a few days though," Flannery warned.

My heart surged a little. "Wow… really?"

They both nodded.

I managed to relax. If Nikki and Jasmine were as far away as Littleroot, then it would take them ages to reach Sootopolis, thank God. That meant they wouldn't be here for tomorrow's attack, _but _assuming everything went our way, any kind of threat would be eliminated and I would be able to see them without them being in any danger. Of course… that is _if _things went our way…

"_Don't think like that, Sienna_!" I told myself furiously, trying to shake off the uneasy feeling that kept cropping up every time I thought of tomorrow's attack. I thought of Nikki and Jasmine instead and grimaced as I realised how angry they (well, primarily Jasmine) were going to be when they eventually got here…

"I am so going to be in for it when they see me… I mean, I did just run off and leave them…"

"I don't think you'll have to worry about that," Misty said. "Anger was the last thing on those girls' minds. Both of them burst into tears when I told them you were okay."

"Oh Jesus…" I said, feeling awful. "I was only trying to—"

I was cut off by a sudden enthusiastic rapping on the door. I looked from both Misty and Flannery in turn, confused. Nobody made a move as the rapping came again. Who on earth was _this _at this time of the evening?

"Sienna! Could you get that door for me?" I heard Wallace holler from the kitchen.

"Sure…" I said, heaving myself off the sofa. "_I didn't think he was expecting more guests… I wonder who this is…_? _Eh, probably one of his friends just wanting to run over procedures for tomorrow._"

I unlocked the door and pulled it open, expecting to see one of Wallace's friends. Instead I saw the last person I _ever _expected to see. A figure of vibrant green and shadowy black.

I could not believe it.

"Hey, greenhorn! You're looking well!"

* * *

**Author's Note**

**Before I say anything else...**

**Wooo! *parties* 40 Chapters! *happy dance* Yaaaaay! *runs in circles* **

**I'll stop. Haha! :)**

**Never thought I'd ever reach this far when I started writing Spirited all those months ago. I only have all you amazing people to thank for sticking with me and responding so well to my little imaginings. :) Thank you all so much!**

**Well, this it it guys. This is the beginning of the end. Things are really gonna heat up from now on. Expect a lot of angst, battles and a few surprises... **

**(Again, I know, a quick update. But I hope to have this story finished soon)**

**Kai-chan94: Thank you! :) Monty hates water... he really really does. One of Aurora's favourite pastimes is to torment him by randomly firing Water Guns at him. :)**

**Anonymous: Haha, well they were luxury Poffins! :) Let's just say through the amount of stat enhancers that were in those things it has made a massive difference. That and the week of training Sienna did. ;) I did use aspects of Wallace's speech, as I do with any canon characters from the game/anime I use but put my own little spin on it. :) And I'd be happy to help with your fic, I'm honoured you would ask me! :)**

**Mia1986: Thank you very much! A new reviewer this late in the game? Love it :)**

**Something dictionary related: Thank you, I do enjoy writing Gym Battles. :) I wasn't quite sure how to write Wallace as I have never seen him in the anime. Sienna's definitely not shy about saying what she wants, even to a man of Wallace's calibre. I really admire her for that :) And Sienna's mum Suzanne will only be in the final few chapters, so not immediately, but look out for her in the close future.**

**Well, please read and review guys! :)**


	41. Reunions Part II

I couldn't believe it as I looked into a pair of emerald green eyes framed by black rimmed glasses. Familiar eyes. My heart leapt to my mouth and my entire body went weak from the shock. I could only look at him, stunned, for a few moments before realisation finally kicked in for me.

"Elliot!"

"Hey!" he grinned cheerily at me. "How are—woah!"

I didn't know what made me do it. Some instinct inside me that I couldn't fully control took hold of me and I threw myself at him, grasping him into a hug. I never wanted to let him go. I clutched on to his warm, slim body, wishing I could just freeze time, hold on to this someone who was familiar and friendly. I couldn't help but bury my face in his chest to stop a tear from leaking out. I breathed in deeply, trying to contain myself and his familiar scent invaded my nose. He smelled like peppermint.

"Sienna… hey…" I heard him murmur softly. His arms draped around me in a soft embrace, making my heart flutter even more. "Are you okay?"

"I'm good…" I said, and I meant every word of it. "Trust me, I'm good..."

I was suddenly aware of a presence behind us.

"Aww…" I heard Misty and Flannery coo from inside.

I blushed; feeling embarrassed and broke the embrace chided Misty and Flannery good-naturedly. As I stood next to him I found I wasn't quite able to look him in the eyes again. He looked the same as ever though. The same long brown hair, the same green and black matching clothes, that same little cheeky smile…

He was wearing that smile now. "Wow, Sienna… look at you. You look so…so…" he broke off and seemed to struggle to find the right word. I waited expectantly, my heart thudding against my chest, wondering what he was going to say, but in the end he just shrugged and grinned. "I guess I can't really call you a "greenhorn" anymore, can I?"

I looked up at him and a smile shot across my face. "No, you can't! But I can still call you a "geek"!"

Elliot laughed delightedly and my heart gave a little twist. "I knew you were gonna say that!" he then fixed his eyes firmly on me and held my gaze. "I can't even get away with calling you a kid anymore. You've even gotten taller!"

I smiled. "Yeah… I guess I have."

I wanted to say something else, but of course, I had to be interrupted.

"Sieeeeeenna!" I heard Wallace's voice trill from nearby. "Aren't you going to let our guest in?"

"Oh!" I blushed, realising I had forgotten my manners and left Elliot standing in the cold night air in the doorway. "Of course… come in!"

"Don't mind if I do," he cast me a cheeky wink that left me temporarily bemused, edged his skinny frame around me, his body brushing against mine momentarily and then walked into the living room and sat himself down like he owned the place. "Hello Misty, Flannery." He grinned, nodding to them each in turn. "Good to see you again!"

I didn't know what else to do with myself as I stood there still holding the door wide open.

"Close that door Sienna, you're letting the heat out!" Wallace chided me as he set out a couple of plates of his infamous "nibbles" on the coffee table.

"Uh! Oh, yes…of course…" I blushed, closing the door and locking it.

Wallace promptly settled himself in between Misty and Flannery on the larger of the sofas, leaving me to choose between sitting in an armchair by myself and daring to sit beside Elliot in the smaller two seat sofa. I must have stood there for about a full minute deliberating like an idiot before Wallace eventually asked me if I was going to sit down at all or just stand there and make the place look untidy. I shuffled to sit down next to Elliot, leaving about as much space as I could between the two of us, suddenly feeling horrendously shy.

Whilst Elliot and the two women exchanged pleasantries, I found myself completely at a loss for words. I didn't know what to say to Elliot, even though he was sitting right next to me! I wanted to know why he was here, how he had gotten here, how he was doing, all that stuff. But every time I plucked up the courage to say something, either Misty or Flannery cut across me and I chickened out. So instead, to compensate for my lack of conversation I began shoving as many of Wallace's finger sandwiches in my mouth as I could, even though I really wasn't hungry. Wallace was watching me oddly throughout the whole ordeal.

"Sienna… aren't you wondering why Elliot's here…?" Wallace decided to help me out when the conversation eventually ground to a halt.

"Oh yeah, umm…" I started to flap and blush a little when Elliot turned to me expectantly. What was _wrong _with me? Why was I so shy? "Wh… what are you doing here, Elliot?"

"I heard about everything from my brother," A strange look passed across Elliot's face that I couldn't identify. "I… I couldn't believe it… that people were going after Kyogre and Groudon… and that we knew nothing about it…"

Flannery shifted in her seat, looking a little uncomfortable. "Yes… I foolishly didn't think to say anything when Groudon was attacked… I thought it was just a one-off… that after the beating those people took… they wouldn't dare to try again. I was a fool…"

"Don't blame yourself, Flannery," Elliot said at once. "This is no-one's fault."

Wallace nodded his agreement. "He's right. The only thing we can do now is stop them from capturing Kyogre tomorrow." He then fixed his eyes on Elliot. "I trust we have your brother's assistance for that?"

Elliot nodded. "Yes, sir."

"May I ask if he's here already?"

"Not yet. He'll…" That strange look on Elliot's face was back. I was beginning to notice it came back every time, every time without fail, he talked about his brother. "He'll be arriving tonight,"

"Good." Wallace smiled.

I was finding this conversation a bit hard to keep up with. I also realised I had been staring at Elliot while he was speaking so I hastily shifted my gaze to my feet, pretending to be fascinated with my old, scruffy trainers.

"Of course, you're on hand to help as well, aren't you?" Wallace checked.

Elliot grinned. "Are you kiddin'? Of course I am!" he then became a little more serious. "I want to help… if what that Alakazam told Sienna was true, and horrible things really _will _happen if Kyogre is caught… I want to do all I can to stop it."

"_Wow…" _I thought to myself. "_Elliot knows _everything _too…"_

It had been strange enough recounting the whole sorry story to Wallace, starting right from the beginning, and realising how unreal and how insane it all sounded. And then of course, there was always the worry he wouldn't believe me, but miraculously, he _did_. Even in the most unbelievable parts, he believed me. He then told all his people about it, who believed it too… It had been even more bizarre hearing Misty and Flannery talk about the most intimate details so matter-of-factly… and now Elliot… he knew everything too. But how? How on _earth _could Elliot know? Yes, he had said his brother had told him about it, but Wallace had only told his trusted friends and the other gym leaders. I was eager to find out _just _who Elliot's brother was.

"_He must be a very strong, well respected Pokemon trainer to know about this. Well, I guess I'm gonna find out soon enough… Elliot said he was going to be here tonight…_"

"Good lad," Wallace smiled. "Having you two on the team will be a great advantage for us."

"Thank you, sir." Elliot nodded.

Another small silence as the conversation ended. And then…

"Sienna?"

I jumped as Wallace turned to me. "Y… yes?"

"Elliot will be staying here tonight." Wallace announced. "Perhaps you could show him to his room? It's the one opposite yours," he added when he saw me open my mouth.

I faltered for a moment, before composing myself. "Uh… yeah… sure."

"It'll give you two kids a chance to get "reacquainted" before dinner," he winked at me cheekily and I found myself blushing, whilst Elliot blinked in confusion.

I left the room hastily, trying desperately to hide my blush from Elliot, who followed me without a word. I hoped to keep it that way as I started the ascent upstairs, but suddenly I heard the living room door pulled closed and felt a warm hand on my elbow.

"Sienna, wait a moment…"

I froze. "Y…yes?"

A short pause. "Are you doing okay?"

The question threw me slightly, but I made myself turn around to look at him and I stretched a smile on my face. "I'm doing fine, Elliot. Really."

"It's just…well, Wallace told me everything…" he said, his emerald green eyes boring into mine. "About your theory on why your mother really left… and how your father is leading the people who want to capture Kyogre… about what that Alakazam told you… you know, how you're the only one who can stop them… how you've been killing yourself with your training… even how you left your friends behind so you wouldn't put them to any danger. I mean… that's a lot for one person to go through."

Hearing everything that I had been through stated so matter-of-factly by Elliot almost made the tears come again, but I forced myself to keep smiling. "I'm doing okay… really."

He looked at me, long and hard. It was then I realised he still had his hand over my wrist.

"Are you sure?"

"P…positive!" I tried to grin, but I wasn't sure he believed me.

He sighed. "Sienna... you've gone through more in the space of six months than most people do in their whole lives. It's okay to admit you're not doing well."

"What good would that do, though?" I found myself asking him. "It doesn't matter if I'm not doing as well as I'd like to. Its not gonna change what's gonna happen tomorrow. I just have to get on with it, don't I?"

He smiled sympathetically at me and then all of a sudden, he had climbed a few steps and pulled me into a hug. "Don't worry," I heard him say above me, his chin resting comfortingly on the top of my head. "We're all gonna do the best we can to help you. I promise you."

This time, I couldn't stop a tear from slipping out. "Thank you…" I whispered, and I have never meant a thank you more in my life…

"No problem…" he said and he let me go. I wished he could have held on longer, but it gave me the opportunity to wipe my face and turn around on the stairs so he couldn't see.

"Come on, I'll show your room,"

He followed me up the stairs obediently. I pushed open the door to his room and snapped on the light as he walked in.

"Well, this is posh!" he grinned as he looked around the room, kitted out with a giant double bed, an ensuite bathroom and loads of antique wooden furniture. I smiled to myself. Wallace was really rich and to trainers living on the road all the time, places like this were like a little slice of heaven. "Haven't stayed in a place _this _swanky in quite some time!"

I watched him eagerly explore the contours and details of his room for a few moments, before deciding it was a good idea to excuse myself. "Well, um… I'll leave you to it then. I'm just across the hall if you need me."

"Sure." He nodded, still too engrossed in what he was doing to really be listening, I imagined.

I was halfway across the hall when I heard him call on me again.

"Sienna?"

"Yeah?" I turned back.

A smile was adorning his handsome face. "It's good to see you again… ya greenhorn."

I grinned. "You too… ya geek."

* * *

Dinner was a relaxed, casual affair that night, even despite the fact tomorrow's events were laying heavily on _all _our minds. Watching Misty and Flannery get into arguments over the slightest little things and Wallace's vain attempts to stop them almost made me forget that tomorrow was the day I had been dedicatedly preparing for for so long. The conversation was light hearted and funny, as far away from tomorrow's events as possible. Elliot seemed to be enjoying himself particularly, and confessed to me that it had been too long since he had sat around the table with friends and just relaxed.

I had so much I wanted to talk to him about. I wanted to know everything. I wanted to know how he felt about his elite four challenge and what the relationship he had with his brother (whoever he was) was like. I wanted to see his Pokemon team and show off mine as well, just to prove I wasn't that little greenhorn anymore. I wanted to know everything… but I knew the chances of that happening were slim. I realised sadly that one evening just wasn't enough.

Once dinner was over, the atmosphere took a noticeable dip. Wallace was never off the phone, going over instructions and arrangements for tomorrow's events, Misty and Flannery were sniping at each other for the least little thing and halfway through the evening Elliot sat himself at the window and didn't speak to anyone, like he was watching, waiting for something.

I discovered what that was soon enough. All of a sudden, the inky black sky was lit up with a magnificent flash of light and moments later, a giant silhouette passed over us, followed by a loud noise from outside. It sounded like something had landed right in Wallace's front garden! I let out a shriek, and for one mad moment thought that the attack on Kyogre was happening _now_! Wallace slammed down the phone and raced outside, Misty and Flannery in hot pursuit. I followed them, too wrapped up in panic to notice that Elliot was sitting perfectly still, like nothing had just happened.

I ran outside and was met with the silhouette of a Dragonite and a rider in the shadow of a brilliant moon. I stopped in my tracks, blinked and rubbed my eyes, just to make sure what I was seeing was really _real _and that I wasn't just making it up. But I wasn't. There really was a Dragonite standing in Wallace's garden and a ride on its back. Wallace was grinning as the rider dismounted elegantly and walked up to him to shake his hand. The rider was clad in vibrant red and inky black and had a cloak billowing around his slim body and a shock of red hair being teased by the gentle wind. I knew who this was even before his name was said.

I couldn't believe who was standing in front of me.

"Lance… so good to see you," Wallace shook the Dragonite rider's hand warmly. "It's good to have you on the team."

Lance. The Dragon Master, Lance! One of the most powerful trainers of all Kanto, and the strongest member of the Elite Four!

In fact… the very member of the Elite Four Elliot had lost to in his Elite Four Challenge…

For a moment, I couldn't do or say anything. I was suddenly, inexplicably overwhelmed by the sheer presence of this man. He just seemed to radiate strength and magnificence, far more than any other trainer I had seen before…

Lance turned to fix his eyes on mine and I found myself overcome with nerves. But before I could do anything, I heard a loud roar and then suddenly, his Dragonite towered above me. I let out a screech, terrified the thing was going to maul me with its massive claws! However, instead of attacking me, it wrapped its little arms around me and pulled me close to it! I started to scream, until I noticed it was rubbing its giant head against me and making an odd purring noise.

"Well!" Wallace said with gusto. "Seems like Lance's Dragonite has taken _quite _the shine to you, Sienna!"

"I don't know _why_!" I insisted, frantically trying to detach myself from the Dragonite's grip. The Dragonite's grip was so tight I was starting to have difficulty breathing! I tried to scrabble away, but it stubbornly held tight. Why on earth was he being so _friendly_? What did I ever do to attract a _Dragonite_?

Lance was eyeing me curiously, but didn't give the order to let the Dragonite let me go. Instead he crossed his arms and spoke in a soft, silky voice that still instantly commanded attention. For some reason, the voice seemed familiar… so much so I almost thought it was _Elliot _speaking. "It appears he remembers you, even after so long."

Now _that _really threw me for a loop. "Huh?"

"Hey!" I heard another voice in the distance.

I managed to twist my head around to see Elliot casually strolling up towards us. My heart leapt. He stopped in his tracks when he saw me in Dragonite's tight embrace. He sighed and walked straight up to us, bypassing Lance entirely. I found this odd… hadn't Elliot _lost _to Lance…? Surely he should have at least _acknowledged _the man who had crushed his hopes of becoming the champion? He didn't even _look _at him. I expected his reaction to be totally different…

And then to my even greater surprise, Elliot placed his hand on top of the Dragonite's head. I squeaked in surprise, completely expecting the Dragonite to take Elliot's hand off, but instead, it relaxed into his touch and then started to purr again.

"Let Sienna go, Dragonite." He ordered softly.

Two seconds later, I was facefirst in the dusty ground. And it hurt. A lot.

I thought I heard the stifled sniggers of a couple of immature Gym Leaders to my left, but I was a little bit preoccupied with the pain spreading through my face to think on it too long. I let out a long, low moan into the dirt and tried to get to my feet.

"I didn't mean like that," I heard Elliot scold the Dragonite gently and then suddenly, strong hands were around me and I was pulled to my feet.

I was too shocked to say anything or even protest as my helper was revealed to be Elliot. For a moment, I looked back from the Dragonite to Elliot, completely in shock. Why did that Dragonite_ listen _to Elliot? He wasn't its trainer! I started to gabble, completely incapable of forming coherent sentences. Elliot…? The Dragonite! It…it…!"

"I know," he said at once, patting the Dragonite almost fondly on its head. He let out a little sigh. "I guess I have a little explaining to do…"

"Huh?" I looked at him. "_What on earth…does he mean? What explaining_?"

"You don't recognise this Dragonite?" Elliot asked me seriously.

I shook my head. "No… Why? Should I? I mean, it's just a Dragonite…right…?"

Elliot smiled. "I guess all Dragonites look the same to someone who hasn't really seen many of them…" he stroked the Dragonite's head slowly as he spoke.

"Elliot…?"

"Don't you remember when we met in Pewter City?"

"Of… of course!" I wanted to add "how could I forget?" but something made me bite my tongue, telling me this wasn't the right time.

"And do you remember how you got to Cerulean?"

I answered without even thinking. "Of course! You took me there on the back of…a…"

I stopped dead. "A…"

"A Dragonite that I had on loan from my brother?" he finished for me.

I nodded wordlessly.

"Well, this _is _that Dragonite," he gestured at the Dragonite now snuggling into him.

"No! No!" I insisted at once. "This Dragonite belongs to…" the gravity of it hit me. "…it belongs to Lance…"

Even as I said that, Lance suddenly came into view to stand next to Elliot. I looked them both up and down and I finally understood. Yes, Elliot sported long brown hair whilst Lance's was spiky red. Yes, Elliot's eyes were of the brightest green and Lance's were dark. Yes, Elliot's face was framed with glasses and Lance's was bare. But even still… once those differences were stripped away, I saw similarities… The same almond shaped eyes. The same long, upturned nose. The same pronounced cheekbones. The same strong jaw. Now that I thought about it, even their _voices _sounded similar. Smooth, silky and cultured…

No, this was way too unbelievable… It couldn't be true! It just couldn't be true!

_Lance _is Elliot's brother?

* * *

**Author's Note**

**Okay, happy OFFICIAL 40th Chapter! :) *dances***

**I FINALLY get to reveal who Elliot's brother is! I know it was probably obvious for quite a few of you but nevermind :) I've had this planned out since Elliot was first introduced waaaaaay back in "The Green and Black Boy" so its nice to finally let the truth out. (they're only half brothers though) **

**This chapter and the next chapter were fun for me to write. I love Elliot and this is Elliot/Sienna fluff. For those of you expecting me to go straight into the attack on Kyogre, I couldn't bring Elliot back and pay no attention to him. He has to have his own chapter! ;) I promise though, return to action happens tomorrow. **

**Chaison: Aww, thank you so much. I'm happy people like you have stuck with me throughout the writing of this fic :)**

**Splashstorm: Yeah, poor Wallace... it was a bit much for him to take in! :) And yaaay for evolutions! :) Meloi and Aurora are big and strong now! And yes, I'm glad to have Elliot back too. I think the levels are as standing Meloi: level 37, Aurora: level 34, Monty: level 36, Kiba: level 30, Indigo: level 32, Cairo: level 26. I can't really list all their moves as I can't remember... I'll have to make a character sheet...**

**Something dictionary related: I feel a little silly now, I had forgotten I had added in an author's note. oh well. :) Well, I can assure you that the big event is going to happen. And writing Misty and Flannery was fun as I always imagined they would never get on. Haha! **

**Whisper of the Wind: Thank you so much for your lovely review, it really made my day! :) I adore all the amazing compliments I get and am grateful for every single one all you amazing people give me. :)**

**Chalcodes: You know I love you so I would LOVE you to upload a new Spirited sketch, you have my permission a million times over. Thank you so much for taking the time to catch up and review! :) 3**

**Anonymous: I think Sniper Mudkip is pretty cool! :) And I'm glad Elliot is back. He's actually my favourite character, even above Sienna! Weird that I prefer a supporting character over the main character, but there you go. I don't think Sienna is ever going to shake that nickname... its stuck. :)**

**WOWfan123: Sorry, you posted a review as soon as I updated chapter 41! Hope you manage to see your answer here! :) Wow, you started reading when there was 37 chapters? Amazing that you caught up so quickly! Thank you so much! :) And yes, Sienna is a fun character to write, especially her sarcasm and how she changes over the course of the story. And Jasmine and Nikki are pretty hopeless when it comes to tracking... **

**Well, please read and review all you lovely people :)**


	42. Final Preparations

"We're only half brothers, you know…"

"Hmm…?" I looked up at Elliot as he spoke for the first time since everyone went back in to Wallace's house. Lance, Misty, Flannery and Wallace had gone into the kitchen, leaving myself and Elliot alone, but he had not been in a talkative mood. Understandably so. I decided to just leave him be and deal with my own shock at this revelation until he was ready to talk to me. Which seemed to be now. When I looked at him, to see if he was upset, his long hair was falling across his face, making it almost impossible for me to read his emotions.

"You're only half brothers?" I repeated, just to be sure I heard right.

"Yeah." Elliot came away from the wall he was leaning against to look out at the darkened scenery from the window. "We have different mothers. So I'm not related to the people in the Dragon Clan. Or the Gym Leader Clair."

I had no idea what or who he was talking about at this moment, but stayed quiet to let him carry on.

"We didn't have much contact when we were growing up… it was that bad that when I was little I was only vaguely aware that I even _had _a brother." he continued. "He stayed with his mother, and I stayed with mine. Our dad lived with me, but he went to see Lance a lot. In fact, I think Dad was away with Lance more often than he was with me."

"_Wow… I guess that explains it…_" I thought, thinking back on when I had known Elliot as a child. I had little to no memories of Elliot's dad; he was always away on some trip or other… and on the rare occasion I _had _seen him, Elliot had been noticeably distant and almost uncomfortable around him….

I found myself feeling…a little… glad in a way as a strange thought came into my head. "_I'm not the only one anymore… the only one who had a dad that left a lot to be desired…_"

I was shocked at myself for thinking such an awful thought and being _happy _about it.

"It only got worse when Lance became champion." Elliot was speaking again, running a hand through his long brown hair, making it stand up in odd quiffs. "Do you know I never actually met Lance till I was nine?"

"Just before you started your Pokemon journey…?"

"Yeah." He nodded. Then he shrugged. "Guess when I saw him become champion… I wanted to prove I could do it too. Dad… dad never said anything to the contrary… but I knew he always preferred Lance over me…"

"Oh Elliot…" I murmured. "I'm sure that's not the case…"

"You weren't _there_, Sienna…" he let out a sigh. "You didn't know what it was like… growing up in _his _shadows…"

"But… but you have a better relationship now, surely…? I mean, he wouldn't lend you his Dragonite… his prized Dragonite if you weren't…" I broke off, unsure what to say.

"We get on better now, sure." He nodded. "But it was difficult… Lance didn't like having a goofy little kid brother around when he had just become Champion and had all those responsibilities. I had to earn his respect by doing well at training Pokemon… since I was so eager to be a trainer anyway it wasn't really that much of a problem." A little smile appeared on his face. "I did annoy him a little when I said there was no _way _I was ever going to train Dragon Pokemon like him _right _in front of his grandfather!" he laughed to himself. I chuckled along, even though I didn't really understand the significance. "And I turned out raising Pokemon the farthest away from Dragon types as I could!"

"Yeah… I guess you did," I said, thinking about Elliot's beloved Grass and Dark type Pokemon.

"I always wanted to do better than him…" Elliot said reflectively, looking across the window again. "I always wanted to prove to our dad that _I _was the better son. But when I faced him in battle at the Pokemon League… I was just so… I guess "scared" is the only word I can use… I couldn't win against him. He ripped me to pieces…"

"I… I know…" I said softly. "I saw… on the Pokemon League website."

His eyes bulged and a fierce blush flashed across his face. "You _saw _that? Oh, man! You saw me bawling my eyes out when I lost? Oh hell…"

"I wouldn't say you were "bawling your eyes out"…" I said, smiling a little at his choice of words. "But I did wonder… why you were so strong against the other three members… but when you saw Lance you just…"

"Went to pieces?"

I stopped. "Um, well I wouldn't say that…"

"I would," he surprised me by grinning. "Nah, I just gotta accept that Lance is outta my league. I'm not ten years old anymore. Trying to one-up my brother is just childish. We get on a little better now anyway… I know that may seem a little hard to believe, but we do."

"That's good to hear," I smiled.

"Yep!" he flashed me another wide grin before turning around. "And if it wasn't for Lance, I never would have heard about all the trouble _you've _gotten into, so I guess I have that to be thankful for."

"Yeah, how _did _you hear about all this?"

"I had visited Lance the day he got the phone call from Wallace." Elliot explained. "I wasn't really that interested at first to be honest because they keep in contact quite a lot. But then I heard your name mentioned. And well, after that, I hounded him to tell me what was going on. And once he said you were staying with Wallace, I jumped on my Tropius and came here as soon as I could."

I found myself asking. "Why…?"

Another one of those cheeky little grins. "Well, contrary to what _any _fortune telling Alakazam says, I couldn't let a little greenhorn like you handle this all by yourself,"

"Oh, thanks!" I threw one of Wallace's (expensive) plumped up cushions at him with as much strength as I could. "I'll have you know I'm a _much _better Pokemon trainer than I was before!"

He caught my projected cushion easily before it landed straight in the roaring fire. There was a twinkle in his eye. "Oh really now?"

"Damn right!" I put my hands on my hips and struck a pose. "I'm ready for tomorrow! I… I could beat anyone I wanted to right now!"

"Oh, is that a challenge Miss Volbeda!" Elliot held up one of his Pokeballs, a wicked grin adorning his face.

"You bet your ass it is!" I yelled, getting way too caught up in this game, brandishing one of my own Pokeballs in return.

"Heeey!" Wallace poked his head in through to the living room just at that exact moment. "You kids can flirt _later_! In the meantime, get through here! We need to go over tomorrow's plans!"

I blushed immediately but tried to shake it off as if I'd never heard the first part. "Oh, Wallace, _again_ with the plans?"

"Yes, again with the plans!" he repeated tetchily. "I want to make sure you're _completely _sure you know what to do tomorrow! Not get through here now!"

I sighed, and muttered under my breath a little, but Elliot and I obediently trotted through to the kitchen where everyone had gathered. Misty and Flannery were standing in between a harassed looking Wallace (to avoid fights, I reckoned) and Lance was standing by himself, his head bowed to the floor, looking distant.

"Hey guys," Elliot said cheerily and I managed a little grin.

Wallace didn't waste time on pleasantries. "Right, this is the plan. We know that Kyogre resides deep inside the Sootopolis cave, so we are going to divide up our forces into two teams. One that will depart at midnight tonight to enter the cave ahead of the others and hopefully the team attempting to capture Kyogre. This is merely a pre-emptive strike, just in case the people show up earlier than expected. If they do, the second team will be waiting to be notified as soon as they turn up. If they don't turn up early, the second team will proceed to Sootopolis cave _only _once the criminal team show up. Now…" he looked up, turning his gaze on each of us in turn. "Since there are six of us here I thought it would be best to split us into threes, one group of us to remain here with the backup and one group to go down to Sootopolis cave tonight. I don't know if anyone wants to volunteer—"

"I'll go tonight," I said at once.

Five pairs of eyes turned to me. Even Lance looked up.

"Are you sure?" Wallace asked me seriously.

"Of course," I nodded. "I need to make sure I'm there from the start just in case…my dad's there… Besides, this whole thing is my mess. I need to step up and take responsibility for it."

Wallace nodded. "I understand, Sienna. You go tonight. Now, there's only the matter of who to go with you. How about—"

"I'll go," I heard Elliot say and I whipped around to look at him, my mouth wide open.

"Elliot…?" Wallace repeated dubiously. "Are you sure…?"

"Yes," he nodded firmly.

I fully expected Wallace to say something about Elliot wanting to go with me, but he simply left it and passed his gaze over Misty, Flannery and a nonchalant Lance. "Right, so far that's Sienna and Elliot going tonight." Wallace repeated. "Now who else…?"

"Me."

I looked up as Lance stepped away from the countertops. He fixed me with an intense stare that almost made me shiver. "I'll go with them."

"Why?" Elliot demanded at once before anyone could speak. "Why do you want to come with us?"

"Because, contrary to what you think, Elliot, neither of you two are Elite trainers." Lance said smoothly. "It's a well known battle strategy to pair your worst fighter…" his eyes touched on me in a way I wasn't sure I liked. "…with the best fighter."

"What are you trying to say!" Elliot demanded of his brother. "That Sienna is a weak Pokemon trainer? No! That's not true! She has beaten both Misty _and _Wallace in fair fights!"

"That may be, but the fact remains is that Sienna is still the least experienced of _everybody _in this room." Wallace said coolly. "And even though you have both participated in many tough battles, they have nearly all been in controlled settings. You have not felt what it is like to fight for your _lives_! Not just for a badge, not just for a win, but to fight for your very _existence_! There is a difference!"

"What do you know about anything like that!" Elliot snapped. "Didn't you _listen _to what Wallace was telling you! About how Sienna had to fight against all those trainers who _captured _her to escape from Mt Chimney! If that isn't fighting for your life then I don't know what _is_!"

"Elliot, please…" I murmured.

"No, Sienna, he has to hear this!" Elliot was raging now. Lance however looked as calm and collected as ever as his little brother ranted on. "I don't know why he has to be so high and mighty all the time! He thinks he's so much better than everyone else! Its so—"

"Elliot." Lance cut in calmly. "Perhaps you and I could save this argument for another night? It seems a little trivial for you and I to be arguing over such unimportant things, especially when we consider what tomorrow is bringing…"

Elliot stopped completely in his tracks.

"Your brother's right, Elliot." Wallace said softly. "Maybe… maybe now isn't the best time?"

Elliot didn't say anything. He opened his mouth, but no words came out. I knew he knew he was beaten. However, there was a look of pure rage clearly evident on his face. I almost thought I saw his eyes water, just momentarily before his face reddened and he looked away from his brother. He sat down on a kitchen chair, visibly trying to contain himself and pass it off like he wasn't bothered at the same time. It wasn't working.

A short silence passed. I wanted to say something to Elliot, thank him for defending me, but my mouth would not open and I couldn't push the words forward. Wallace looked uncomfortably around the tense room before clearing his throat, loudly, and carrying on.

"So, Sienna, Elliot and Lance will go down to Sootopolis Cave tonight, whilst Misty, Flannery and myself will join the backup. Are we clear on that?"

Everyone nodded, apart from Elliot who was staring at the floor. I wanted to squeeze his arm to comfort him, but I found I couldn't find the courage in front of everyone.

"So, once you three reach Sootopolis Cave, all you have to do is stake out the cave and keep yourself hidden until you spot the criminal team. Once you spot them, radio in for backup straight away. Do _not, _and mean, _do not _attempt to apprehend them without the assistance of the backup squad."

"Wait, I don't get it." Flannery said loudly. "Why not just put _everyone _down in Sootopolis Cave and have done with it? Then we wouldn't have to worry about the troubles of dispatching a whole new squad!"

"Because, Flannery…" Wallace said, barely able to exercise any restraint any more. "Sootopolis Cave is not as big as you think. If we cram too many trainers in there, we risk getting noticed. Besides, everybody knows the best way to attack a large group of unknown enemies is to mount _two _attacks. One from the front, and a surprise one from the rear!"

Flannery folded her arms. "I still think the best way is to just go all out…" she muttered traitorously but shut up when Misty shot her a look that would turn anyone to stone…

"Well you're not running this show, Flannery…" Wallace brushed her off and checked his watch. "What's the time now? Just after ten…" he murmured to himself, before looking at me, Elliot and Lance. "You three have just under two hours before you must be at Sootopolis. Do whatever you need to do now and meet back down here at quarter to twelve. Got it?"

"Got it." I replied softly.

And with that, we were officially dismissed.

* * *

Potions, check. Escape Ropes, check. Berries, check. Torches, check. Bandages, Repels, first aid kits, check, check, check.

"_Looks like that's everything_…" I thought to myself.

I closed up my bag and quickly changed into my training outfit. Practical, loose clothes that were comfortable and allowed for plenty of movement. They somehow managed to do the amazing task of keeping me warm when it was cold and cool when it was hot. Just in case though, I slipped a hooded jumper into the pouch of my bag. It was nearing the end of summer now. Nights were getting longer and colder...

I checked the clock. Twenty five to midnight. I didn't have much time before I was due to meet Elliot and Lance downstairs. Just out of curiosity I peeked across the hall to Elliot's room. The door was closed tightly shut and I couldn't hear any noises coming from behind the door. I sighed and backed into my room again.

My head was swimming with thoughts and worries, but none of them had to do with the imminent attack… I couldn't understand why. I was just about to go and stake out a cave, where I had to protect the legendary Pokemon Kyogre… protect it from none other than my own father... the father I had been tracking for months now… the father my own mother had disappeared after… And now… now I was so close to him… but I just felt nothing whenever I thought about it. No fear, no excitement, not even hatred towards my dad… I just felt empty. All I could think about… was Elliot.

"_Get a grip, Sienna…_" I told myself firmly as I picked up my six Pokeballs and started slotting them into my belt. Just as I had lifted up Indigo's, I thought I heard something shifting about behind me. In my panic I gasped and almost dropped my Pokeball. I looked around, but there was nothing there. Just the same bed, wardrobe and desk I had been looking at for the past week. "_Wow… I'm agitated tonight…" _I thought to myself and sighed, clipping the ball back.

"Miss Volbeda?"

The voice was familiar, so I didn't scream. Instead, I turned a full one hundred and eighty degree twist that any ballet dancer would have been proud of. I was faced with the shadowy silhouette of a tall, bipedal Pokemon… And not just any Pokemon.

"Al…Alakazam?"

"Hello, child." He said gravely.

Panic immediately surfaced. What was Alakazam doing here, so far away from the Safari Zone? This could only mean bad news! "What are you doing here? Has something happened?"

The Alakazam shook his head. "No. Not yet,"

I blinked at him. "Huh?"

He let out a sigh, walking backwards and forwards a few paces. "Sienna… I'll be frank. I'm concerned."

"Concerned…? Why…?"

"Because, my visions have not changed," he told me, fixing me with a long stare. "I expected when I mediated today to be presented with a different image of tomorrow's outcome. But it has remained the same."

I frowned. "So… what does that mean…?"

"It means, you haven't changed anything, Sienna."

"Of course we haven't!" I replied, irked. "We haven't even started the attack yet!"

"That may be," Alakazam nodded in a wise-old-man-esque way. "But tomorrow's actions are not the be-all-and-end-all here. What I'm concerned about, Sienna, is your attitude."

I gave a start. "My attitude?" I frowned. "What the hell's wrong with my attitude?"

"Well, aside from the obvious…" he remarked snidely, shooting me a look. "I'm worried that your feelings for the boy, Elliot, are impacting you from focusing on what you have to do."

I stopped, feeling a horrible blush appear. "No, Alakazam… you don't understand… it's just that I haven't seen him in so long and—"

"Relax, child, the nature of your feelings for him is not what concerns me. What _does _however is that because of them you can't focus on this issue. I find myself wondering if I didn't stress the importance of this situation enough. I shall try again. If your father _does _capture Kyogre tomorrow, the world will suffer in ways you cannot imagine. One captured legendary Pokemon will lead to another until eventually; your father will have complete dominance over the entire world. You _cannot _let that happen, Sienna!"

"Complete…dominance…?" I whispered to myself. "My father…? He'll have complete dominance over the world…? Wh… what the hell does he think he is? Some comic book villain! He just wants world domination, is that it! Is that what this whole thing is _about_?"

One thought of that arrogant, merciless, abusive _bastard _achieving _any _kind of dominance over the world made hot rage bubble in my body. "Th… that bastard…" I muttered vehemently. "How…how dare he? I'm never going to let him get away with this!"

"Good," Alakazam nodded approvingly. "I hoped telling you this would um… reignite the flames, as it were… I can see I've more than done my job… I shall take this as my opportunity to leave…"

"What?" I blinked. "You're leaving? Now? When the attack is happening so soon!"

"Yes." He nodded. "My place is with the Pokemon of the Safari Zone. I only came here to remind you of the bigger picture here. While you've done an admirable job getting followers to help you, you cannot expect to foil these people if your heart is no longer in it. All I can say is that your feelings for the boy must be strong to overtake your desires to stop your father from achieving world domination,"

I blushed violently again. "It's not that—"

"Just remember that if you don't stop your father tomorrow, there definitely won't be any opportunities to get closer to the boy. But if you _do, _there will be plenty of chances to reel him in like a caught Magikarp." Alakazam said with what I would have sworn on my _life _was a wink.

"Alakazam!" I blushed, mortified. I couldn't believe I was standing here on the eve of the attack on Kyogre discussing my _love life _with a precognitive Alakazam!

"Now I shall take my leave." He said mysteriously and then vanished right in front of my eyes without another word.

"Wha…? No… hey! Alakazam! Come back! " I cursed, my cheeks still blazing hot. "_Dammit, how could Alakazam have known! About the way I f…f…feel about Elliot? Dammit! Wait… oh no! Damn! Could it be…that psychic link he was talking about? Could that be it? Has he… been reading my thoughts? AGAIN!"_

"Alakazam, if I ever see you again I'm gonna _kill _you!" I shouted to the empty room around me.

While I stood there, mortified and panting heavily from shouting, I thought I sensed movement behind me. Then a moment later, a shadow fell across the room.

"Sienna?"

I whipped around immediately. Elliot was standing at the door. "El…Elliot!"

"Are you okay?" he asked warily. "Who were you talking to…?"

"_Oh hell! Could he have heard?_"

"No! No-one!" I said hastily, waving my arms around and hoping to God my face wasn't as red as it _felt_. "Just…just talking to myself! You know, a bit of the old pep talk and all!"

"Right," he said slowly whilst I cringed, wanting to die.

"_Did I really just say that? Oh God, I'm acting like some twelve year old with her first crush! Damn, Alakazam was right… my feelings really _are _impacting my focus about tomorrow…"_

"Listen, I came up here to ask…are you ready to go?" he asked me seriously.

I thought about what Alakazam had told me and immediately that fiery hot determination resurfaced in me. I realised how stupid I was being. There were more important things to worry about than my feelings for Elliot. The fate of the world, for example. And my dad. I was never going to let that evil, evil man "take over the world" like some glorified cartoon villain! Not while I still had a breath left in me. Who does he think he _is_?

I looked up towards Elliot. "Yeah. I'm ready. I'm _more _than ready. Let's go."

He nodded at me and we left the room. As we went downstairs to rendezvous with the others for what Wallace rightly described as "the fight of all our lives", I only had one thought circling my brain, mercilessly demanding my attention.

"_Just you wait, dad. I'm coming for you._"

* * *

**Author's Note**

**I promise, something more interesting happens next chapter. This is when we officially leave all the fillers and intermittent chapters behind and the end of the story begins thus. **

**Thank you all who have stuck with me to see this story finally begin to draw to a close. But don't worry, we still have a good few chapters and a good few shocks left! :)**

**Chaison: Haha, yeah, I did set it up to be pretty obvious to outside readers. Sienna never clicked though... says a lot about her. **

**ParamoreDecoy: I think its more than just a harmless "crush" judging by the events of this chapter...**

**WildCroconaw: Yes, Lance and Elliot really are brothers! Well, half brothers. But it still counts!**

**Sniper Mudkip: Eek, I hope Elliot doesn't really come across as Mary Sue-ish? I guess it is difficult to create a strong character without the worries of being too Mary Sue-ish... **

**Something dictionary related: Valid questions, and it sucks I haven't been able to work them into the main story. However! They will be entries in the Spirited expansion stories so all will be revealed then :) **

**WOWfan123: Hee hee... you'll just have to wait and see. I have a lot of action and surprises planned for the final act of the story. **

**Chalcodes: Yeeek! :) I can't wait to see the new Spirited sketches! Please let me know as soon as possible when the sketches are finished! I can't wait to see them! :) And I friggin' love you too! :)**

**Whisper of the Wind: Elliot vs Sienna? Wow, I would like to see that too... maybe that could be an entry in my Spirited expansion stories. :)**

**ArchXDeath: Aww, thank you so much! I doubt I'm on par with the legendary Digital Skitty, but thank you all the same. :) I really do like your story, it just seems to relax me with its easy, simple storytelling. And yeah, parts of the plot are designed to be obvious. As much as I would like to be someone who can write a great, keep-you-on-the-edge-of-your-seat-and-throw-you-for-a-total-loop kind of storyline, I can't really do it... Haha! :) So I thought it woudl be better to stick with something I could do and do it well. Haha, Sienna socking her father? Nice! :) May have to work that in now that you've sparked the idea! **

**Thank you all so much for your continued support! **

**Please read and review! **


	43. Pinky Promise

We were flying through the cold night air, wind whistling in my ears and nipping at my exposed skin. Stars lit up the inky black sky and the harrowing silhouette of the moon was hanging lazily in the air. Below us, the water glimmered and shone like a mirror, then rippled and was disrupted as the bodies of Pokemon effortlessly glided through it. If I had to count, I guessed there was about four or five airborne Pokemon and riders leading an assault of about twenty other trainers, all riding on various water Pokemon.

Lance was leading the pack on his Dragonite, Elliot and I were close behind on Elliot's Tropius and a few other trainers on Pidgeots and the like followed us. The rest of the trainers all either had water Pokemon big enough to ride on or stole a lift from someone who did, and were following us on the water. I couldn't believe the wide variety of rare and powerful Pokemon that the trainers had. I saw everything from Gyarados to Lapras, from Feraligatr to Swampert, from Milotic to Empoleon… it was amazing to see all these incredible, strong, rare Pokemon all around me. And it was even greater knowing that all these amazing, strong talented Pokemon _and _trainers were all here to help _me_…

"There!" I heard Lance shout above the wind. "There it is! The Cave of Origin!"

I squinted in the darkness and I could make out, just in the very distance, what looked like a small hump sitting idly on the black water. I blinked in surprise._ That _housed Kyogre? For some reason I had thought it would look so much more impressive…

"Take everyone down!" I heard Wallace order and a moment later; he disappeared from in front of us. I looked down and saw his silhouette dart like a shadow to join the head of the Pokemon gliding across the water. Seconds later, the people behind us also dipped down to be closer to the Pokemon swimming across the sea.

"What are they doing…?" I wondered out loud.

"Its in case we're seen…" Elliot told me, whilst giving Tropius the order to descend. Soon enough we were diving towards the water so quickly I thought we were actually going to take a nosedive straight into the ocean! Fear shot through me and I clenched my arms tightly around Elliot's waist, waiting for the horrible impact… to be swamped by icy cold water... But thankfully, Elliot's Tropius righted itself just in time and my fear slipped away. Momentarily at any rate. It only seemed to get worse when I realised how close I was to the ocean… the _real _ocean… without the protection of a ferry… I was sitting bare back on a Pokemon… right next to the ocean…

I was distracted when I heard Lance holler "Everyone bunch together now!" and then moments later, we were totally surrounded by Pokemon and trainers as everyone seemed to move in closer to make a tight, constrict unit.

"Now, anyone that knows the move "Mist", use it now!"

A few seconds later, I heard a few calls of "Use Mist, now!" and suddenly a thick, white fog started to rise up from the rippling water. It began to surround us, hazing across my vision, making it difficult to see.

"What's going on?" I murmured to myself.

"They're using Mist to mask us," Elliot told me over his shoulder and over Lance's shouted instruction to "stay together and don't break formation". "That way we can approach the Cave of Origin without being seen."

"Oh, I see…" I murmured to Elliot's back. "That's pretty clever…"

Elliot laughed humourlessly. "That's my big brother for you. He may be an arrogant pain in the ass at times, but at least he knows how to cover all his bases…"

A thought struck me. "_Somehow… somehow I think that's the only time Elliot's actually speaking _truthfully _about his brother to me…_"

I found it difficult to see anything apart from the occasional shadowy outline of a Pokemon next to me and Elliot, so thick and dense was the mist the water Pokemon had kicked up. All I could hear was the occasion low moan of a Pokemon, the rushing water and the steady beat of Elliot's Tropius's wings. I felt a little bit nauseous, as I heard the sounds of the rushing water right next to me. A horrible thought invaded my head. If I was to fall off Tropius's back right now, I would probably drown in that black water before anyone could help me…

I tightened my grip around Elliot's waist and swallowed deeply, trying to compose myself. To my surprise, Elliot somehow picked up on my discomfort straight away. "You okay?" he asked me softly.

"I just… I just don't like the water…" I murmured. "And I hate being this close to it…"

"Don't be scared," he said, without missing a beat. "I won't let you fall into it, trust me."

"_That boy… he's like a mind reader…_" I smiled, even though he couldn't see me. "Thanks Elliot…"

"Its okay," he said, shrugging lightly. "Everyone has something they're scared of."

"Mmm… I guess they do…"

"We're almost there anyway." Elliot said. "Just hang on. Close your eyes if that helps."

I found that it did. And true to Elliot's words, I soon heard Lance shouting instructions to get ready to land. Then I felt Tropius speed up abruptly, the beat of his wings becoming stronger and more intense. I opened my eyes and saw the Cave of Origin looming ahead of us, just visible in the thick of the mist. A shudder ran through my spine as I thought of what was awaiting me in that cave…

The cave got closer and closer until Tropius touched down, his heavy feet thudding in to the earthy ground. What followed were the sounds of about thirty pairs of feet descending onto the surrounding grounds at the entrance to the cave, then the noises of Pokemon being recalled. Elliot slipped off from Tropius's back and helped me down.

"All right everyone, gather around." Lance ordered.

Elliot swiftly recalled his Tropius and the two of us joined the rest of the trainers. We stood in a rough semi-circle, and I found almost everyone was looking in my direction. I couldn't really figure out why, wishing I could hide behind Elliot, away from them. Thankfully though, when Lance joined us, standing at the head of the group, looking official, their attentions shifted to him.

"Right everyone," Lance began reeling off the plan officially. "We're going to proceed in five separate groups. Each group will stake out a different area of the cave, but we will be able to keep in contact with each other using our Pokegear. Wallace has already assured me that the signal in the Cave of Origin is sufficient enough to allow us to communicate."

I looked up at the Cave of Origin. Now that I was standing next to it, I realised just how huge it was. What had looked like quite a small, unimposing cave from a distance now loomed way above my head, stoic, intimidating and massive, like a small mountain. I knew that yes, there were a lot of trainers here, but I doubted even with the numbers we had that we could cover _all _the ground in there… We didn't even have a clue where Kyogre _was _in this cave. We could stumble around there for _weeks _and still not find anything!

"Right, everyone separate into the groups that were determined beforehand," Lance ordered. At his order, people began moving around, exchanging names and group numbers and forming into five groups, but Elliot and I were left standing idly by ourselves, looking a little confused.

"What about us?" I asked, raising my hand.

"Sienna, Elliot, you two are with me," Lance said without missing a beat.

"Great…" Elliot muttered under his breath.

Elliot and I, rather reluctantly in Elliot's case, joined Lance's group at his orders. Our group consisted of mostly men probably in their late twenties, apart from one very tall boy who was about seventeen and a younger girl who was even smaller than me. The girl caught my eye and stared, before elbowing the tall boy in the ribs as he started looking around distractedly, telling him to "behave himself" and "pay attention". He shot her a wounded look and played around a little before Lance firmly told the two of them to shut up and pay attention. They then giggled like schoolgirls when Lance wasn't looking. I smiled at them. They must be good friends, I thought enviously.

"Here's the plan. Group one will proceed right to the end of the cave, group two will head to the centre, group three…" he indicated his own group. "…will proceed to the eastern parts of the cave, group four will take the western parts and the final group will be stationed near the mouth. Are we all clear on that?"

"Yes sir!" everyone shouted apart from me and Elliot.

"Okay, so group one will proceed first…"

The first group immediately started filing in through the mouth of the Cave of Origin. Someone released a Butterfree and moments later, the dark mouth of the cave was lit up with a warm light. I knew the move was Flash. We were all told to wait a while until the first group reached their destination. Whilst the other groups milled around, waiting for instructions, Elliot and I broke away from ours.

"How are you feeling…?" he asked me softly.

"… a little nervous." I said truthfully.

"I can understand… this is a pretty big deal, huh?"

"Yeah…"

My mind was plagued by what Alakazam had told me… My dad was doing this for no other reason that simple world domination… like some comic book villain… My hands clenched into fists and fury rose in me as I looked across the calm waters, illuminated by the bright light of the moon. "I… I won't let my dad win… I just can't let him get away with this…"

But could I _really _stop him…? Nerves were invading my body, making me physically shake with apprehension. The moment I had prepared for, for all this time, was imminent. We were about to face off with my dad…try and stop him from capturing a Legendary Pokemon to use to take over the world! I shook my head, trying to make sense of it all. It just felt totally unreal… This sounded like a plot of the latest Hollywood movie, not real life… this kind of thing happened to the protagonists of movies and video games… not to me. Not in real life…

How had I even gotten here in the first place? I decided to recap on everything, just to get it all straight in my own head. My mother had left me a note saying she was pursuing an "incident in Hoenn" after my father. I had trailed after her to Hoenn and after getting through the weirdest, oddest weather I had ever seen I found out that Mt Chimney was erupting. I decided to investigate, but once I got there I was kidnapped and held underground, where I heard my father's name mentioned by one of the people holding us captive. We managed to escape and on the way out, I ran into my father himself. Then the most unbelievable part of the story. Groudon appeared. I suspected they had been trying to capture the legendary Pokemon right from the beginning, but it had broken free and then started to destroy everything. After that, realising the danger I had put my friends in, I left them behind to chase after my dad myself. When I stopped off to get supplies from a Pokemon Mart, the woman running it mistook me for a customer that had been there earlier in the day. It turned out that my mother had been there, in Lavaridge whilst the attack on Groudon had taken place. I hounded the old lady for all she knew, and then discovered the people mum was with had mentioned going to Sootopolis. I went there for myself and found out about the legend of Kyogre. I then had a strong suspicion that my dad was after Kyogre. That was only verified when I ran into one of the men my dad had working under him. Things started to get a lot weirder when a precognitive Alakazam told me for definite my dad was going to capture Kyogre… and I was the only one who could stop him, whatever that meant. Now, I was standing here, after all those amazing events, getting ready to stake out the Sootopolis cave that Kyogre lived in, my dad and his men only hours away from arriving. Rage, fear and nerves were circling me, clawing me, and demanding attention, making my head swim. I was so angry with my dad… all the horrible things he was doing. I mean, I knew he was arrogant and power-hungry, but I never thought things would _ever _end up like _this_. I was scared because I couldn't help but think about what would happen if we _couldn't _stop him. What kind of things would befall this world…? Would the other legendaries fall to him too? The Alakazam had told me they had perfected some sort of "ultimate capture device"… with technology _that _powerful… it was entirely possible. And I was nervous now because we were so close to the final battle now… so close to stopping him… I was just a total mess.

"Sienna? Its time for us to go," Elliot told me, giving me a nudge to get my attention.

A blast of apprehension hit me hard as our group descended into the cave. One of the trainers owned a Beautifly that lit up the dark, dank corridors. We walked in silence; the only noises were the occasional drip of water and the rhythmic beat of footsteps and the flapping of the Beautifly's wings. Lance led the team confidently through the twisting and turning caves like he was at home, not faltering at all when we were faced with forks in the corridors.

"He's been through these caves a lot," Elliot explained to me quietly. "Wallace used to guard these caves and Lance would visit a lot. The two of them would come down here all the time to train and have a few friendly battles…"

"All right guys, this is us." Lance suddenly announced after a little more walking.

We found ourselves in a rounded cavern with several different corridors leading out and in.

"We need to keep a low profile, so everyone keep to the walls and make sure you can't be seen from any of the corridors," Lance instructed.

Elliot and I left the group, moved to one of the walls and found a small indent at the wall, just perfect for us to duck into and keep out of sight. Moments later, the light the Beautifly was conjuring went out. Everything was plunged into darkness.

"Wow…" I muttered to no-one in particular. "It's dark now…"

"Not half,"

A voice that wasn't Elliot's startled me. I jumped and squinted in the darkness. Slowly I was able to make out the figures of the only other girl that had been on the team, and the boy she had been talking to.

"So I hear you're the one, right?" she asked, making my heart stop. "The one whose dad is behind all this?"

"That's me…" I sighed sadly.

"Hey, don't be so insensitive to the poor girl!" I heard her friend say, sounding horrified. "It's not _her _fault her dad is insane!"

"What?" the girl said shrilly. "Who even asked you? And calling her dad "insane" is even worse than what _I _said!"

"What? How can you even say that! I'm your _friend_!"

"Well I can't believe I'm _friends _with someone as insensitive as you!"

"What?" he shrieked.

I couldn't see the look on Elliot's face, but I wholly suspected he was wearing the exact same "What the hell is going on here?" look on his face that I had.

"You heard me!" the girl snapped.

The boy shrank away, looking wounded. "Don't be so m-e-a-n…" he whined.

"Mean? Mean! I'll show you mean! Scyther, get out here!"

A burst of light erupted from in front of us and a second later a giant green mantis Pokemon had burst from out of nowhere.

"Use Slash on Kei, now!"

"No, no, no, no, no!" I heard the boy screech. "Don't you—"

"ENOUGH!" I heard Lance scream from nowhere. A light came on and Lance was suddenly standing in between the girl and the boy, and the Scyther had stopped in its tracks. The boy was on his back, trembling slightly. I couldn't blame him. The Scyther's razor sharp wings had been stopped only inches away from his face. If that had made contact, that poor boy would have been cut to ribbons. Elliot and I exchanged absolutely shocked looks.

"You two, honestly! No-one would think you were Elites!" Lance had a look of abject fury on his face and he was bellowing at the two trainers that made even _me _shrink away.

"Lance, it wasn't me, it was her!" the boy protested at once, looking sheepish.

"I don't care who it was!" Lance roared. "To think you would be squabbling like children on _today _of all days! Now shut up, the two of you, and get a little perspective!"

I could feel every pair of eyes in the cave slowly turn in our direction as Lance yelled. I wanted to bow my head in shame even though I wasn't even part of it. I could only imagine how embarrassed the other two felt.

"_They must be mortified…_"I thought sadly.

But when I looked at them, the word mortified couldn't' be further from the truth. The girl just looked huffed and hacked off, the boy looked terrified; but not of Lance. He was sneaking wary glances at the girl every now and again as if afraid she would blow again.

Lance drew himself up to his full height again. "Now, if we can put this childishness behind us, need I remind you we are on a _stake-out_? The attack could happen any minute and if you people are screaming and shouting, how are we meant to hear _them_ coming? Or _worse, _you could alert _them _to _our _presence? Now get a grip!"

"Yes Lance, sorry Lance…" the boy apologised meekly while the girl just grunted.

"And that goes for _everyone _here!" Lance bellowed and then proceeded to stomp down back to the mouth of the cavern again; leaving me wondering what the _hell _had just happened.

The girl stood up and stalked over to the other side of the cave, muttering furiously under her breath, her Scyther following her. The boy breathed out a sigh of relief as both Lance and the girl disappeared from sight.

"Wow…" Elliot said to the boy. "Your friend's a little… on edge tonight?"

"Oh, no… she's always like that…" he said, with a weak grin.

"Respect man, I don't know how you can put up with her."

I expected the boy to say something similar. But then, the strangest thing happened. A wide grin flooded the boy's face and his whole expression softened. He cast a glance over to his friend who sat down heavily at the other side of the cave, and I saw a familiar look dart across his eyes, only briefly.

"Don't worry," he said softly. "She's not as bad as she seems…"

I knew immediately why he put up with her. I could tell just by looking at him. It was quite sweet and I smiled to myself.

"Yeah, don't know how you can do it…" Elliot grinned apologetically, scratching the back of his neck.

That little smile came again. Then he shrugged, his face serious again. "Yeah… listen, I better go back to her. Sorry for disturbing you…"

"No problem," Elliot said, and with that, after wishing us good luck for the upcoming battle, the boy left to be with his friend.

"Wow… that was intense, huh?" Elliot turned to me. "Those two were unreal… I almost died of fright when she pulled her Scyther on him! It's like they hated each other, the way they were shouting!"

I watched the boy and the girl for a moment. The girl looked hacked off but a few words from the boy and suddenly, the anger melted away and her face, once marred by a fierce frown softened into a gentle smile and she began to giggle. I was amazed. She had changed completely just from a couple of words from the exact same person she had been so angry with only five minutes ago. A little smile touched on my face.

"They don't hate each other, Elliot…" I smiled, watching them, my heart suddenly feeling all warm and fuzzy. "In fact, I think they might _love _each other."

"Huh? Love?" he repeated dubiously. "After the way they were practically attacking each other? You think they _love _each other?"

"Yeah, I do." I said, pulling my legs up underneath my chin as Lance bellowed the order for lights out and the place was once again plunged into darkness. "You can tell… just the way they act around each other…"

Elliot was confused. "Shouting and screaming and threatening each other?"

"No," I laughed. "Did you not see the way he looked when he was talking about her? Or the way she instantly cheered up when he spoke to her? People don't react that way unless there's something deeper there."

"Eh, I'll take your word for it…" Elliot said, lazily leaning against the wall of the cavern again as Lance yelled at him to shut up. "Jeez, don't know what he's yelling about…he's making the most noise out of _everyone _here…"

I let out a sigh. Elliot was hopeless. He really, really was…

* * *

Time passed slowly in that cave. Too slowly. Everything was too dark and too silent. All I could see was the inky black outlines of the other trainers shuffling around and all I could hear was the occasional muttered conversation and Elliot's slow, deep breathing. I was sitting uncomfortably close to him and I could feel every slight movement or shift he made. I had managed to regain some control over my nerves, but every now and again they sprang up with a vengeance.

I was beginning to get tired by the time two o'clock rolled around. I had been awake since dawn, training all day with hardly any breaks, then after the drama of Elliot and Lance and getting packed to come here, I'd had no sleep. I was so tired now, the events of the day had caught up with me and just sitting here doing nothing was not helping. It didn't help at all that I was practically _leaning _on Elliot and he was lovely and warm and soft…

"_Maybe I'll just take a quick nap…_" I thought to myself sleepily as my eyes slowly began to close of their own accord.

* * *

I felt like I had only been asleep for nothing more than a few minutes when I suddenly jerked awake again.

The suddenness of my movements startled Elliot and I felt him jump. He then moaned and stretched and I could see the faint outline of his head turn to look at me. "You're awake?"

"Mmmm…" I murmured, stretching my arms and legs as far as I could, feeling a great number of my joints click and protest in pain as I moved them. "I wasn't asleep for that long… was I?"

"Check the time," he grinned, flashing me his Pokegear. 6:37 blinked back at me in the darkness.

"Eh?" I gasped, feeling a blush redden my cheeks and a sudden panic grip me. "I slept for that long?"

"Its okay, Sienna, don't panic." Elliot assured me at once. "Nothing's happened yet."

"Thank God…" I slumped back into the wall and let out a long, heavy sigh of relief.

"Did you have a good sleep?" Elliot asked me out of the blue.

"Huh? Oh… yes! I guess so…" I stammered, blushing again.

"Yeah, you were pretty out of it," Elliot said lightly. "You wouldn't wake up even when you were crushing the life outta my shoulder."

"What?" I gasped, absolutely mortified. "Oh God, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to fall asleep on you and crush your shoulder! I'm so sor—"

"_Relax_, Sienna, I was kidding!" he chuckled to himself. "Man, you're really easy to wind up!" and then he laughed again.

I blushed again, eternally grateful for the darkness. "Shut up!"

He grinned again. "I'll just call this even for all those "geek" comments."

"Eh?" I frowned. "But you call me "greenhorn" all the time!"

"I know, but it doesn't count when I do it."

"Says who?" I demanded, as I gave him a little shove.

"Whoa, Sienna, we fight with our Pokemon, not with our fists!" he remarked.

"Yeah… but we haven't had a chance to have our rematch…" I said, trailing off sadly, remembering our vow to have a rematch when we parted ways in Cerulean. "_I wonder… will we ever get the _chance _to have a rematch…_?"

"Don't worry," he assured me happily. "Once this whole thing has been sorted, you and I will have plenty of time to have that rematch."

I managed a little smile but it was wasted as he couldn't see it. "You promise?"

"Pinky promise," His hand suddenly found mine and his pinky finger coiled around mine. He gave it a quick squeeze before letting my hand go again. "Don't worry, that stuff is legit!" I could _hear _the grin in his voice and we both laughed.

"_Thanks Elliot…_" I thought to myself happily, still feeling the echo of Elliot's touch resonating in my finger. I wanted to remember that touch forever… I wanted this moment, this happy little sweet moment, to just stretch on forever and I wouldn't have to deal with any of this horrible, real life danger about to happen at any moment…

Right. That horrible real life danger about to happen at any moment. And if things ended up taking a turn for the worst, would I ever get a chance to admit what I felt again? I had to think about that. I had to take a chance. It was now or never…

"Elliot…" I ventured slowly. "Listen, there's something I want to—"

But all of a sudden, there was a massive explosion. A blast of heat and white light smashed through from seemingly nowhere, along with an impact that ripped through the entire cavern, sending massive vibrations through the ground. I let out a scream as something blasted through the thick rock wall right next to me and Elliot, covering everything in heavy debris and dust. Elliot pulled me straight to my feet and got me out of the way _just _as another explosion ripped through the rock wall _exactly _where we had been sitting. Smoke was billowing in to the tiny cavern, stinging at my eyes, making it impossible to see. Vibrations were so powerfully shaking the ground below that it began shifting and cracking underneath my feet. As I watched this chaos, I had a sudden, horrible feeling of déjà vu. The other trainers were shouting in panic, Lance was screaming into his Pokegear mouthpiece and Elliot's grip was so tight on me I could barely breathe.

I squinted as hard as I could in the billowing black smoke that was belching out all around us. The cavern had been blasted straight through, opening up a rugged, jagged hole into what looked like another part of the cave! Even above all the noise and commotion I could hear running water…and the harsh cries of what sounded like at least a dozen men and even more Pokemon… and they weren't on our side…

And then I heard a roar…

* * *

**Author's Note**

**This chapter was difficult to write... **

**Hee hee! I couldn't resist sneaking in a little cameo appearance of two other trainers of mine. Anyone who reads Opposites Attract will pick up on it :)**

**ParamoreDecoy: I was always dead set against Elliot and Sienna being a couple, but now that I've explored it, I think I like it! :) You'll have to wait and see though **

**Sniper Mudkip: Aaaah, good. I was starting to worry in case Elliot was coming across like a Sue. Don't worry, Sienna will cause her father SOME bodily harm, its just too good of an opportunity to pass up. **

**Something dictionary related: Sorry, what about her mother? I'm a little confused... You will see Alakazam again. :)**

**Splashstorm: Don't worry, I love long reviews! :) Haven't really kept up with Pedestal as I'd like, but it is an awesome fic. :) Yes, Meloi does know Thundershock, Kiba DOESN'T know Flamethrower, Monty knows Quick Attack and Indigo knows both Confusion and Psychic. Sienna has Aurora the Spheal which is a strong water type. I haven't been writing Opposites Attract, but that'll be my main priority once this is finished.**

**Your fan :D - Oh my goodness, thanks for the compliments! :) I'll do my best to keep working hard!**

**WOWfan123: Don't worry about keeping up with reviews, I'm just grateful I GET them :) **

**Anyway, please read and review and please vote on my new poll!**


	44. The Beginning of the End Part I

The roar echoed all around the cave. It bellowed all around us, reverberating off every surface like a ghastly echo. The roar was so loud and so vicious, a total ode to the power and strength behind the owner. The smoke was billowing in so thickly that I couldn't see much apart from a couple of figures running around, shouting things in rough masculine voices.

"Get here now!" From behind me, I could vaguely hear Lance screaming into his Pokegear. "We have a situation here, get in here now!"

"_Right…_" an odd feeling suddenly swept over me as realisation dawned. "_That's them… they're here now… and they're after Kyogre_! _I have to do something!_"

Elliot was coughing so much from the smoke that he had slackened his grip on me. I took this opportunity to rip myself from his grasp and take off at a run, straight for the opening into the other part of the cave.

"Sienna! Sienna! Get back here!" I heard him scream after me, but for once, I couldn't care less about Elliot.

I sprinted straight into the billowing smoke, fighting against it with all my strength, ignoring my stinging eyes, my raw throat, and my heavy, unresponsive limbs. I didn't care about any of that. If that was Kyogre I heard roaring, then that meant those people were here… that meant my dad was here! That thought alone brought back my rage and I ferociously pushed my body forwards.

I burst out through the smoke and emerged into another part of the cave. This part of the cave was huge, with high, thick walls and completely open plan. I looked up and saw nothing overhead apart from the sky. The thin watery light of the morning was streaming in and lighting up everything around me. I stopped in my tracks as the scenery unfolded in front of me. Smoke was lying heavy in the air, but I could still see as all of a sudden I heard someone yell "Gust!" and the smoke was whipped away. But unfortunately, so was my cover…

I was faced with an army.

What looked like well over a hundred men dressed from head to toe in masks and black uniforms were running around in front of me. I could see even more men when I looked to my left and right, lined up along the outline of the cave, like some sort of guard. Each man had at least one Pokemon following him at his side, and they were all giant, burly, powerful Pokemon… For a moment, time seemed to stop as miraculously, no-one seemed to have spotted me. My eyes darted across the cave and touched on a giant expanse of water laid out in front of me. It was the size of a small lake and it looked deep. But the water was rippling and bubbling like it was boiling, but with no apparent cause to it. Thankfully, there was no sign of Kyogre…

"_What do I do?_" I thought frantically, looking around me. I still hadn't been spotted! Maybe I still had time to slip away and join the others! I knew there was no way I could even _hope _to get past at least a hundred trainers on my own…

Just as I was about to turn away, I caught sight of someone moving towards the swelling rippling water. They were far away, but I recognised the red hair… I knew who it was. That was my dad! My hands clenched into fists. Rage flashed through my body and I knew there was going to be no running away!

But I'd been spotted.

"Look! Someone's here!" someone yelled.

All of a sudden hundreds of pairs of eyes turned to face me. I froze, suddenly unsure of what to do. For a long moment, everyone just stared at each other…

I looked at my dad. He was standing, looking straight at me. To say he looked a little shocked was an understatement… I felt anger stab at me as I locked eyes with him for the first time since Mt. Chimney. I wanted to give him a piece of my mind!

My legs suddenly took on a will of their own and I broke into a run down towards him. "I'm not gonna let you get Kyogre!" I screamed at the top of my lungs.

The people started to shout in protest. "Cal! We have a situation here!"

Hearing his name only angered me further.

I heard an explosion of cursing and swearing. Stuff about "how could they have found us _again_?" and "Again! They tracked us all the way here? How?" but I didn't care what they were saying. I focused on racing down towards my dad who was standing at the water's edge with some sort of strange device, but never taking his eyes off me.

I suddenly heard his voice, loud, piercing and confident, even above the yells and shouts of the trainers around me. "Stop her!"

The black uniformed trainers around me had been dumb enough to just _stand _there as I had entered; they had practically just _allowed _a stranger to come waltzing in and had made no move to stop me, even though they knew I shouldn't be there! But it was different as soon as dad gave an order. Immediately at his command, a hoard of people started to swarm towards me, their Pokemon at their heels. There were at least twenty trainers coming right at me! And these were big, strong Pokemon they had… I saw Golems, Onixs, Machamps, Aggrons, Rhydons, Steelixs, Tyranitars, all those big massive powerhouses! The exact same kind of Pokemon that terrified me so much as a child. But I couldn't let myself be scared of them now!

My hand went straight to my belt and I pulled out my Pokeballs. "Go! Aurora! Indigo! Use Water Pulse and Confusion!"

My Walrein and Girafarig burst from their Pokeballs in bursts of bright light and faced off against the oncoming swarm of Pokemon. I couldn't help but think they looked so weak and unimposing against the vicious looking powerhouses the other trainers. But I knew by now that when it came to Pokemon battling, you certainly could _not _judge by appearances.

Without even hesitating in the face of such an intimidating group of people, my two Pokemon went straight into their attacks. A vicious blast of water courtesy of Aurora slammed straight into an Aggron, knocking it over and causing a domino effect on the other Pokemon as it fell. As for the three or four not knocked over, a Psychic energy engulfed them and moments later, they were launched into the air. Even better, Indigo's aim was fantastic; the Pokemon she had used Confusion on successfully slammed into the one or two Pokemon that were managing to get up from Aurora's attack.

All the black uniformed trainers stopped in shock as their Pokemon were effortlessly wiped out and I spotted an opportunity to escape. "Come on," I screeched to Indigo and Aurora, taking off at a run.

But as soon as I had broken through the other trainers, I was suddenly circled by a whole other group of them. They began to close in around me, cutting off all escape routes. I whipped around, searching for some way out, and the blank eyes of the masks stared down at me, making panic seize my heart like an icy fist as I was surrounded. Their Pokemon grunted and growled menacingly at every move I made and I found myself overwhelmed with fear as I looked at these giant monsters… My Pokemon whined and looked back at me, looking for commands. I pushed past my fear and complied. I had to get past these people! I had to get to my dad! This was no time to be a scaredy-cat!

"Aurora, use Powder Snow! And Indigo use Stomp!"

But no sooner had commands left my mouth, a giant Machamp was released behind me and without my noticing, it crept up behind me and grabbed me, its huge powerful hands digging straight into my arms. I started to scream and struggle, but there was no way of ever hoping to break free, and I had to watch in horror as Indigo and Aurora were suddenly jumped on and tackled to the ground by a Tyranitar and a Golem.

"No! Let me go!" I screamed, trying to get free and at the same time, try and see what my dad was up to, but I couldn't see him. "Let me go! Let me go!"

"SIENNA!"

I looked up at the shout and all of a sudden I saw a Tropius come speeding through the air towards me.

_Elliot_!

"Tropius, use Magical Leaf!"

A barrage of razor sharp, glowing yellow and green leaves were suddenly released from the top leaves on Tropius's back. The leaves flew through the air and sliced straight through the ranks of the trainers, scattering them. They also hit the Tyranitar and Golem, and in their confusion as they took damage from the hit, Aurora and Indigo were freed. I felt the Machamp howl in pain and then release me as another Magical Leaf attack slammed into it. Aurora and Indigo ran straight to my side and I quickly recalled them, as they were injured and I didn't want them to be hurt any longer.

I looked around me. The black uniformed trainers had scattered but there were still some close by. They were distracted with attending to their wounds and their Pokemon's wounds, but I knew it was only going to be a matter of time before they came after me again…

"Sienna!"

I looked up to see Elliot straddling his Tropius, high above my head. "Elliot!"

"Hang on!" with a quick word to Tropius, he quickly swooped down to my level. His eyes were wide with panic as he looked me up and down. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine…" I breathed out in relief.

"Hey! Hey you two! Intruders!"

A rough yell from nearby told me that the trainers nearby were ready for battle again. Elliot swore as the trainers that had encircled me suddenly started to regroup. A quick look behind us saw what looked like hundreds of the black uniformed people working under my dad releasing their Pokemon and swarming towards us like a plague of insects. I began to panic intensely and I gripped onto Elliot in fear.

"_Where the hell are Lance and everyone else_?"

And then I heard someone yell out. "Gyarados! Use Surf!"

A huge wave of water appeared from out of nowhere, looking like a tsunami rolling down the cave! I let out a screech! It was coming straight for us! But quick as anything, I felt Elliot's hand grip mine and all of a sudden I was hoisted into the air and pulled safely onto Tropius's back. As I looked down I saw a massive surge of water sweep across the cave, hitting straight in to the gaggle of black uniformed trainers and their Pokemon. I heard yells and screams as they were all swept to the end of the cave by the wave and separated everywhere. I looked down and saw the argumentative girl that had owned the Scyther standing proudly next to a massive, roaring, intimidating Gyarados.

My heart leapt. "_They're here!"_

The girl's friend suddenly darted into view. I saw a look of horror flash across his face at the carnage, before his hand flew to his belt. He threw his Pokeball high into the sky and it burst open, revealing a Milotic. The Milotic let out a high pitched musical sound, and delicately wove its long sinewy body to stand next to the girl's Gyarados.

"Get them!" I heard someone from the enemy scream.

From out of nowhere, another swarm of black uniformed trainers came streaming towards the boy and girl with the Milotic and Gyarados. As they ran, they released horribly strong Pokemon like Onix and Steelix and ordered them to go in for an attack. My heart was in my mouth as they advanced on them. But the girl and boy looked completely at ease. Even from where I was sitting, I saw the boy and the girl exchange looks and wicked smiles erupted on their faces.

"Gyarados!"

"Milotic!"

"Use Double Hydro Pump!" they both bellowed.

The two serpentine Pokemon drew back, roared and blasted forwards two massive torrents of water that slammed straight into the oncoming trainers and blew them away, Pokemon and all. The boy and girl grinned and high-fived before a swarm of trainers appeared behind them. But these weren't enemy trainers. These were _our _trainers.

I heard roars of surprise and outrage at the appearance of so many trainers and then the noises of battle started to erupt all around me. The black uniformed trainers, after recovering from the attack from the Gyarados and Milotic looked enraged and immediately dove straight into battle. What looked like a blur of fierce, no-holds-barred mismatched battles started erupting below us. A sea of trainers and Pokemon, all wanting victory…

One thing I noticed was that we seemed to have just as many trainers as the enemy did. At least that was something to be grateful for, I thought to myself, safely on top of Elliot's Tropius.

A thought suddenly struck me! In the confusion of everything, I had forgotten about my father! I quickly turned around and saw him standing as if nothing was happening, holding something strange in his arms, kneeling to the water's edge… What the _hell _was he doing!

I was just about to tell Elliot to let me down when all of a sudden a Dragonite was zooming towards us. Fully expecting it to belong to the enemy, I started to scream in fright until I saw the rider.

"Sienna! Elliot!"

Thankfully, it was not an enemy, but Lance.

"Lance?" I gasped in surprise.

"What the _hell _did you think you two think you were doing? Running off like that! You could've been hurt! Or killed!"

"Lance, I'm sorry, but I have to go after my dad!"

"Is he here?"

"He's there!" I pointed down to where my dad was. "Elliot, let me—"

Before I could even finish my request, something slammed into the Tropius's side and he let out a screech of pain! I heard Lance yell out as the impact from whatever it was sent Tropius, and me and Elliot, flying. The sharp jilt knocked me completely off balance and I slipped off his back… Panic surged through me as I tried to grab onto something solid… but there was nothing... I was falling…

The ground got closer and closer and closer until eventually I hit it hard. Pain ricocheted through my body, and I could vaguely hear someone shouting my name. For a moment, I just lay there, the pain shooting all through me until eventually it began to subside. I twitched my joints experimentally. It hurt, yes, but I didn't think I'd done much damage… Nothing short of a miracle as I'd fallen about ten or twelve feet from the air. Trying not to think about it, I pushed myself to my hands and knees and looked around.

Battles were waging all around me. The cries of Pokemon in pain, the screamed commands of trainers, the sounds of crashings and explosions as stray attacks ripped through the terrain, completely obliterating everything in its path… all these things consolidated in a furious battle soundtrack… there was no doubt about it. This was war.

I looked up and saw Elliot's Tropius, lying unconscious at the side of the cave. Elliot was being helped to his feet by a concerned looking Lance, in a rare display of brotherly affection. Elliot's face was streaked with blood from a cut on his forehead and looked barely capable of walking, let alone anything else. I was concerned about him of course I was, and I was about to run over to him, but then I realised something…

I was standing only feet away from my dad.

He was standing, investigating the water, completely ignoring the battles erupting all around him. He was standing so idly… he didn't have a clue I was standing so close to was the perfect opportunity.

Wheels of flame erupted around me, shocks of electricity blasted, waves of water swelled and the ground shook as I walked up to him. This was the perfect setting… This was the time to put an end to this. It had gone on long enough.

I was only feet away from him when he suddenly straightened up. I found myself overcome with a bundle of nerves as he did. I forced myself to walk further forward.

"You know… I'm not gonna let you get away with this…"

He turned around to face me without a moment's hesitation. My eyes fell on his face, his cold exposed face… His face twisted into a cold sneer as he looked me slowly, up and down. I swallowed nervously as he locked eyes with me and wouldn't avert his gaze.

"Hello, Sienna…" he said coolly.

"Never mind "hello!"" I spat. "What the _hell _do you think you're _doing_!"

"I would have thought that would have been obvious." He said, raising an eyebrow at me. "I'm more intrigued to know though, what _you _are doing here…"

"I would have thought _that _would have been obvious too." I said, folding my arms. "I've come to stop you…"

"Hmm," he murmured to himself. "I thought so. My, my, my… this is troublesome… I didn't particularly want for _you _to get involved in this. It is bad enough your _mother _had to get involved…"

"Of course I'm involved!" I shouted. "My own father is trying to capture Legendary Pokemon for his own use! I can't _not_ get involved!"

He grunted. "You're as bad as your mother…"

"Damn right," I yelled, my hand going to my belt and I grabbed a Pokeball. I held it up firmly towards him. "And I'm gonna stop you!"

He looked pretty unimpressed by my spiel. "Well… I guess it's true after all… you really _are _a Pokemon trainer now… I am surprised. You were always so… against it…"

"Things change,"

"People don't," he said immediately. "Don't kid me, Sienna. You don't want to be a Pokemon trainer any more now than you did when you were a little girl…"

"I…" I started to stammer, trying to push out the words; act like that statement hadn't thrown me as much as it had. "I… I _do _want to be a trainer! If it means stopping you!"

"You seriously think you can stop me…?"

"Yes! Yes, I do!"

"Pah," He snorted. "I don't think so. You're still the same, scared little girl you always were, Sienna. You wouldn't have a hope in hell of beating me!"

"Oh yeah! Well how about we just see about that?"

I threw my Pokeball straight out in front of me.

"Ampha_ros_!" Meloi shrieked as soon as she was released.

"An Ampharos, eh?" he said slowly. "Interesting choice. And it looks powerful too. But Sienna, you can never hope to win against me… you're still a little girl… terrified of me _and _my Pokemon…"

"That's not me any more!"

"Oh, really? Well how about we test that!" a Pokeball was suddenly in his hands. "Go, Golem!"

The giant boulder-like Pokemon burst from its ball. It was huge and rounded, solid as steel, with a nasty look in those tiny beady eyes. The Golem eyed me and then roared. I found myself backing away a little. This was my dad's prized Golem! His strongest Pokemon! His most vicious, brutal, merciless Pokemon…

"Meloi…" I said worriedly. "Use… use…"

But I couldn't think of a single attack that would be effective on this Golem… Just the sheer sight of what looked like a massive boulder on legs made me feel numb and scared… I knew exactly what that _thing _was capable off…

"I thought so," dad said cruelly. "Now, Golem. Keep them busy with an Earthquake!"

"Go-_lem_!"

Suddenly the place began rumbling ominously. A smirk spread across my dad's face as he turned away and turned his attention straight back to the water that was still bubbling and swelling viciously. He had something in his hand. It looked like… an orb…

But I couldn't focus on that now. The Golem was single-handedly rocking the whole of the cave so hard that I could barely stand on my feet. All of our own trainers could barely stand either from the enormous earthquake the Golem was creating.

"Mel—Meloi!" I shrieked as I hit the ground hard as the shaking got worse. "Use Thundershock now!"

I had to do something, _anything _to stop the shaking. My vision was juddering up and down so much that I couldn't focus on anything. My body was jumping from the impact shaking underneath the earth.

"Ampharos!"

I heard the sounds of the electricity being released, and also I heard the attack hit, but the shaking didn't stop. Instead all I heard was Golem roaring and Meloi screeching with pain as she was thrown to the ground next to me. "Meloi!" I gasped, grabbing her. She was almost out of it, bruised and bleeding slightly. I had no choice but to recall her.

I looked up, and let out a scream of terror. My dad was standing with this orb above his head, saying something into it. He then placed it on the water and as it floated into the centre, the water began to bubble viciously and swell viciously. It began to spit and erupt, water splashing everywhere. I rolled onto my front and started to crawl forward, inch by inch over the rumbling ground.

"STOP!" I started to scream. "Just stop, please! Dad!"

But it was too late for that… A shadow was beginning to form underneath the deep water. It was tiny at first, but then it started to grow… a low musical tone was beginning to sound, ringing in my ears. It was low, soft and mournful.

"_What is that…_?"

And then suddenly the shadow began to grow bigger… The water was bubbling furiously. My dad had a look of pure, unadulterated glee spread across his face. Everyone had stopped, half of them were on the ground, and many were nursing injuries or attempting to attend to their injured Pokemon. A group of our trainers tried to break away and run to where my dad was, but as soon as he saw them move, he released three Pokeballs. A Hariyama, a Steelix and an Empoleon appeared and with their combined attacks, the group of trainers on our side went down easily.

"No!" I kept screaming, trying to get to my feet, but every time I did, I was shaken down again. "_We're losing! We can't be losing! I have to do something!_"

I started to crawl again. It was the only thing I could do. Inch by inch along the shaking ground, I pulled myself along until I was nearly at the water's edge. The shadow was growing bigger, the water was erupting with mini-geysers blowing out from deep underwater… and that musical note was getting louder…

And then…

Something huge dived out from underneath the water's surface.

A giant wave of water was blown across the cave and I, along with every other trainer in the way was caught up with it, and swept along until we hit something solid. I heard a huge, piercing, fear-inspiring roar, and when I recovered and opened my eyes, my heart stopped.

Right in front of me, for all eyes to see, was the legendary Pokemon Kyogre.

All the people in black were running towards it and my dad. The shaking had stopped, so I quickly jumped to my feet and screamed "_Stop them!_"

The sounds of Pokemon being released echoed all around me. Moments later, the black uniformed trainers were tackled to the ground and everyone was engaged in battles once again. I took off at a run, taking advantage of my small skinny body to dodge between the battling trainers. No-one had managed to break past the onslaught of black uniformed trainers, meaning my dad was standing there alongside a bellowing Kyogre, completely unopposed. It seemed to be angered and even as I ran, it let loose a powerful Hyper Beam, completely destroying and ripping open one part of the cave.

"Stop this! You must stop!" I screamed as I got near the Kyogre that was lashing about uncontrollably.

My dad was laughing manically and he was holding that strange device in his hand again. Upon closer examination, it just looked like a regular Pokeball… but slightly larger and patterned with black and purple and had a strange symbol and what looked like an inscription on it. He stroked this contraption fondly, as if it were a treasured Persian, and then looked up at the Kyogre.

"At last…" I heard him say. "Kyogre will be mine!"

"NO!" I screeched, trying to run around the Kyogre to reach my father, but it let loose another Hyper Beam, this one nearly hitting me, and I had to dive to the ground to avoid being hit. As I looked up, everything seemed to move in slow motion…

I saw my dad throw this unusual Pokeball. It sailed, slowly, slowly, slowly through the air before hitting the Kyogre straight on the head. I let out a scream of protest as the entire of Kyogre's body changed to an odd purple colour and then disappeared into the strange Pokeball.

The Pokeball hit the ground and it began to shake. I started to run, trying to grab the still shaking Pokeball as it lay unclaimed, but dad's Golem intercepted my path. I screamed as something heavy and blunt slammed into my body and I fell to the ground, pain exploding along my stomach and legs. But still, ignoring the pain, I pushed myself up again, just in time to see Lance go streaking past me, his eyes fixed firmly on that shaking Pokeball…

But then two awful things happened.

One, my dad got his hands on the Pokeball first.

Two, the Pokeball stopped shaking…

"No!" I screamed.

"At last…" my dad yelled victoriously, holding the Pokeball with Kyogre sealed inside aloft above his head. "Kyogre is mine!"

Cheers erupted all around us from the black uniformed trainers whilst I just stood there in complete shock.

"You bastard!" I screamed at my dad, feeling hot tears of frustration spill out and run down my face. "_I've failed! He has Kyogre!_"

My dad fixed me with a cool, hard stare. Lance was standing next to me looking horrified, completely incapable of moving. All our trainers, momentarily distracted, were suddenly pounced upon by the black uniformed trainers. I couldn't believe it as I saw each and everyone of our trainers go down, by either being too surprised to get their Pokemon to respond when they were suddenly attacked, or in the case of ones that didn't have Pokemon out, they were tackled bodily to the ground.

"Monster!" Lance was shouting at my dad. "Do you realise what you've done! You're going to put the whole world in turmoil by capturing that Kyogre!"

"Yeah…!" a weakened voice next to me startled me. It was Elliot, barely conscious and bleeding horribly, but still trying to step in. "Let it go! Legendary Pokemon aren't _meant _to be caught! You're making a big mistake!"

"You fools! You don't understand at all!" My dad laughed evilly.

"All right, that does it!" Lance whipped out a Pokeball. "Dragonite, let's go!"

"You would challenge me with that Dragonite? Knowing that I have in my possession and under my control, one of the world's most powerful Pokemon! Pah! You are delusional" he stroked the Pokeball once more. "Perhaps it is time to show you what this little thing is capable of? Go, Kyogre!"

As the giant Kyogre burst from its Pokeball, now completely under my dad's control, only one crushing thought swamped me, making me want to fall to my knees and sob.

"_I've failed…_"

* * *

**Author's Note**

**This arc is so hard to write... I've been really struggling to make the next couple of chapters really good, so expect slower than normal updates. **

**Wow... I just hope these chapters live up to everyone's expectations. **

**Once again, thanks to everyone who has been reviewing and ready so dedicatedly :)**

**Something dictionary related: Yeah, I should split up that paragraph. I'll go back and fix it. :) **

**Chaison: Haha! I'm glad people picked up on that being Mai and Kei. I was thinking to myself of Elite Trainers and I thought well, there's no-one more elite than Mai and Kei**

**Sniper Mudkip: Well, I wanted to make sure everyone understood it to be honest... maybe I shouldn't have given it away. **

**ArchXDeath: I rely waaaay too much on cliffhangers! Haha! :) Yeah, Kei and Mai are the main characters of my other fic Opposites Attract! **

**Killeralchemist747: As good as "Pedestal"? Eeeek! What have I done to deserve so much praise! Thank you so so much! :) her mother is appearing in the next chapter! And the ElliotxSienna is a good angle to take so I hope to devote a little more attention to that. I'm not altogether sure about a sequel but I'll see how I feel once this is finished. **

**Whisper of the Wind: Sienna really does have strong feelings for Elliot... and its a good distraction in the fic to take away from the seriousness, so that's a welcome thing. **

**beatlesfan53: Hee hee, I hope I don't disappoint! Cairo the Trapinch will evolve soon, yes. I know I've been promising that for ages, but yes, it will be happening. **

**ParamoreDecoy: Yeah... cliffhangers seem to be my speciality :)**

**Splashstorm: Ahh, I love getting your reviews! Mai was with her Gyarados and Kei was with his Milotic, Mai put her foot down and said they weren't allowed to fly! Haha! Thank you so much yet again! :)**

**Crystal.77: Oh my goodness, you made me so happy with your lovely words! Thank you so much! I'm so happy you love this so much! :) People like you make writing this worthwhile!**

**Well, the fic is drawing to a close now. **

**Please read and review if you can! :)  
**


	45. The Beginning of the End Part II

I wanted to howl, cry, and sob, lament everything to the heavens as I realised what had just happened. What I had _let _just happen. My dad had Kyogre in his possession… And I couldn't do anything to stop him! He was… he was unstoppable now!

"_I've… I've failed!_"

I just wanted to stand there and cry, until I heard a yell of "Get back, get back now!" Lance's hands grabbed me forcefully and I found myself being ushered away alongside Elliot. "It's not safe! Everyone, get back!" he started yelling at the other trainers. But almost everyone who wasn't dressed in black uniforms were unconscious on the ground or too injured to notice what was happening.

I realised with shock that it was just me, Lance and Elliot left now…

"We've gotta get you two out of here," Lance panicked, whistling for his Dragonite who obediently appeared in seconds.

My dad spotted what they he was doing. "Stop them!" he yelled. "Don't let them escape!"

"Lance!" I screamed, pointing at the mass of black uniformed trainers that were running towards us.

I was petrified, rooted to the spot, totally incapable of movement. My hand wouldn't even go to my Pokeballs. Thoughts of fighting had totally left me… I was no help to anyone any more. Lance on the other hand, swore, grabbed a Pokeball from his belt and threw it with such force I suspected it would have given anyone it hit a black eye. Moments later, his Milotic burst from its Pokeball. It roared upon seeing the mass of black and drew itself up to its impressive, full height.

"Milotic! Take them down with Surf, now!"

Milotic let out a massive roar and seconds later, an enormous wall of water was sweeping down towards the black uniformed trainers. They were caught up in the powerful wave and I saw them all disappear under the water. Then the wave slowed and came to a stop, slamming almost every trainer it had ensnared into the wall of the cave. While they were successfully down, and not a threat anymore, they were definitely not out as many of them immediately began staggering to their feet.

"Milotic, keep them busy!" Lance bellowed and as soon as the instruction was given, Milotic roared again and dove bodily at the trainers, knocking them _and _whatever Pokemon they had managed to call, to their feet.

I watched this in awe and almost didn't notice Lance grab hold of a protesting Elliot, lift him up like he weighed nothing and settle him on his patient Dragonite's back. I was too busy watching my dad now, who seemed completely transfixed by the Kyogre to even notice that his men were being attack by a Milotic _or _that we were safe… For the moment.

"Sienna!"

A hand on my arm brought me back to the present. Behind me, there were almighty crashes and the sound of people yelling filled my ears. I could only assume Lance's Milotic was doing a good job of keeping the black uniformed trainers occupied.

"You have to get out of here now!" Lance insisted firmly. "Get on Dragonite's back! He'll take you and Elliot to safety!"

"What? But what about you?"

"I'll be fine." Lance said firmly. "I'll stay behind and hold Cal and the Kyogre off as long as I can!"

"No!" I protested at once. "This is my mess to deal with! I have to be the one to stop him!"

Then suddenly, from behind me I heard my dad yelling. He must have spotted us arguing and realised he had a good opportunity… And he did something that even until this day I can't believe he did…

"Kyogre, use Hyper Beam on them, now!"

"_No_!" I screamed inwardly as the Kyogre obediently began readying its attack.

"MOVE!" Lance screamed, tackling me to the ground whilst Dragonite launched itself into the air to evade. The massive beam just skiffed past us, missing Lance and I by only a hair. Dragonite landed down next to us, baring its teeth at the Kyogre, trying to intimidate it, but all that did was make the Kyogre roar in anger.

"Unless you want to get blasted to pieces, I suggest you move!" my dad let out peals of insane, maniacal laughter as Lance and I staggered to our feet again. "Kyogre, Hyper Beam again!"

"_Why? Why is this happening? Why is he ordering Kyogre to attack us!"_ I thought in utter despair as Lance dove to the ground, taking me along with him. The beam missed us, but again, by only a fraction. Tears began forming at the corners of my eyes again as I looked at my dad, standing so proudly next to the newly captured Kyogre, standing like some dictator… some triumphant, evil villain… ready to do whatever he wanted with the world now. And then I realised something with crushing sadness and disappointment… he didn't just _look _the part anymore… he really _was _some triumphant, evil villain with all the power he wanted… and the world really _was _at his mercy…

"_I… I couldn't stop him… I've failed… I've failed everyone_!"

"Sienna!" Lance grabbed me roughly by my shoulders, his fingernails biting into me so sharply that I couldn't help but be shocked into the present again. "You _have _to get out of here _now_!"

"No!" I tore myself away. "I can't just run away, Lance! I was meant to stop him! And now, look! He has Kyogre! I _have _to stop him!"

"Sienna, don't argue with me!" Lance yelled. "Get Elliot out of here safely!"

"No, _you _get Elliot out of here safely! He's _your _brother! He's _your _responsibility! Same as how he's _my _father and he's _my _responsibility!"

"Sienna I'm not gonna ask you again! You need to—"

Lance was cut off as a sudden blast of fire and heat flashed straight past us. Wheels of flame lit up the cave around us, and Lance dragged me away from the white hot fire. But this attack didn't come from Kyogre! It came from _behind _us! The Kyogre bellowed and shot a strong beam of water at the torrent of fire blasting towards it. The fire was extinguished easily, steam shooting up everywhere. But then as soon as the fire fizzled out, I heard a vicious crackling like static and a shot of bright electricity came zigzagging towards the Kyogre. This time, the attack was too quick for the Kyogre and it engulfed it. As Lance and I stood there in total shock, I turned around and saw a blue dog like Pokemon with flashes of yellow fur come running up on its long, powerful legs. Behind it came running a Mightyena and a Houndoom.

"Who the hell…?" Lance gasped in the face of these three dog Pokemon.

The three dog like Pokemon raced along on their strong, lithe limbs and all of a sudden they leaped forward and threw themselves at the Kyogre, snarling and growling viciously. The Kyogre howled in rage and pain as they started blasting it with attacks of fire, electricity and darkness.

"Kyogre! Get them _off_!" Dad screamed.

Kyogre attempted to blast the three dog Pokemon with various Hyper Beams and other attacks, but the dog Pokemon were fast and took advantage of their smaller size to easily dodge around the Kyogre's massive bulk. I watched in total awe as the Kyogre started taking damage! They were winning? But where and _who_ was their trainer…?

A rough bark from behind startled me and something butted into my back. I turned around and immediately I was met with the eager face of an Arcanine. It cocked its head to one side and let out a slow, affectionate whine. When I out of instinct put my hand to its head, its tail started wagging furiously and it delivered a sloppy lick to my outstretched hand. It was like… it was like it _knew _me somehow…

"_An Arcanine…? But how…? Where…?"_

Then suddenly, as I was pondering this, a high pitched, female voice rose across the cave. "Everybody get ready to attack!"

My dad was halfway through bellowing an instruction when the voice sounded, and he stopped dead as soon as he heard it. A look of pure rage slowly tempered his face. As I wondered why he looked so angry, I realised something…

"_I… I know that voice_!"

I whipped around to my left and saw at least fifty people dressed in matching teal blue outfits run in from the other part of the destroyed. Pokemon were being released left, right and centre. Noctowl, Magmar, Glaceon, Ninetails, Snorlax, Armaldo, Gengar, Staraptor and many, many more descended on the battlefield and swept up the black uniformed trainers into vicious combat. It was a good thing too as Lance's Milotic had been totally overwhelmed by the black uniformed trainers' Pokemon and now it was able to limp slowly back up to Lance, who recalled it immediately.

Whoever these blue uniformed people were, it was clear they were on our side. And so strong too! Scenes of battle were unfolding before me, Pokemon exchanging blow after blow, executing them elegantly, masterfully, and stylishly, but packed with power and wickedly strong. My heart was in my mouth as these blue uniformed trainers started to overwhelm those in black. Then suddenly, someone at the back released a hoard of Blissey and Chansey. The Chansey and Blissey descended on the battle field, helping to heal the trainers and Pokemon that had been on _our _teams!

I was completely shocked and in awe. Who _were _those people that were helping us? And who on earth had those dog Pokemon that were managing to keep Kyogre at bay? A quick look back proved that the Houndoom, the Arcanine, the Mightyena and the Manectric were still posing a problem for the Kyogre. No matter how hard it tried, it couldn't hit the small, wickedly fast Pokemon that were blasting it with attack after attack. They were like a swam of mosquitoes, too fast to swat, too annoying to ignore and with a wicked bite.

I heard my dad shouting and swearing to himself, screaming orders at the Kyogre to do something, and at the same time, looking up and down the ranks of blue uniformed trainers, as if he was searching for someone…

I didn't make the connection until I heard someone come up behind me.

"Cal!"

It was that voice again! That female voice… But this time… it was closer. And now that it was close… I knew who it was. My heart leapt to my mouth and shock reverberated straight through my body. It was _her…_ she was here. She was so close…

"Cal! You're going to pay for this! Kyogre isn't _meant _to be captured!"

I whipped around and came face to face with a tall, slim woman, dressed head to foot in teal blue and white. Her browny blonde hair swung around her shoulders, her normally pale and delicate face twisted into fury and red with anger. My whole body surged with excitement and relief and I wanted to burst into tears, scream, and collapse on the ground with relief all at the same time.

She hadn't recognised me and I must have stood there for a full minute, just trying to figure out some way to speak to her. She was focused entirely on my dad, so it gave me the time to moisten my lips and push my words forward.

"M…mu…mum?"

The woman gave a noticeable start. Her gaze slowly shifted from my dad across to me. As her gaze touched on me, her eyes widened and her look of anger and rage instantly melted away. Her eyes filled with tears, a look of pure disbelief and horror spreading along her face. Her hand flew to her mouth and she let out a series of frenzied "Oh my Gods" as she looked me up and down, as if she was trying to figure out if it was really me. "Sienna…?" she ventured slowly, her voice thick and choked with emotion.

"Mum!" I cried happily.

At that point, any _normal _mother would have fallen on the daughter she hadn't seen in months, smother her in hugs and kisses and tell her how much she had missed her. But not my mother. Oh no. A n unexpected look of abject fury suddenly spread across her face and she marched straight up to me. And slapped me in the face.

"Mum?" I gasped, feeling a hot, tingling flush spread across my right cheek. It wasn't exactly _sore_, but the shock of her actions made tears well up in my eyes. After all this time… after everything I'd done… everything I'd been through to see her…_this _was how she greeted me?

"Sienna! What the _hell _are you doing here?"

"I…I…" I babbled uselessly. I was still in shock at what had happened, but a quick glance at my father who was still screaming at Kyogre to attack mum's dog Pokemon reminded me and revitalised my fire. "The same as you! I'm here to stop Dad!"

"I expressly _forbade _you to follow me! It's too dangerous for you here!"

"Mum, no! You don't understand! I'm not here by myself! I'm a Pokemon trainer now!" I told her, showing off my Pokeballs to prove it.

"That doesn't matter! You were never supposed to see this!" she screeched. "You were never meant to be _involved_!"

"Well, like it or not, I _am _involved!" I screeched back, just as loud, making her wince slightly. Another bizarre thought occurred to me. What on earth were we doing bellowing at each other, having a mother-daughter bust up whilst Elliot was injured, ferocious battles were exploding all around us and the small matter of my dad having Kyogre in his evil clutches. "Hey! And don't you think is a pretty bad time to be arguing about this?"

She stopped just as she was about to open her mouth again, blinked and then looked at Dad who was still screaming at Kyogre, still at the mercy of mum's dog Pokemon. All of a sudden, he lunged for a Pokeball at his belt and released his Golem again. Mum screamed at her dog Pokemon to get out of the way, but they were suddenly barraged with a vicious, incredibly powerful Rock Throw. They whined with pain until Mum yelled at them to get back to her. They limped over obediently and allowed Mum to spray what looked like some kind of medicine over them. They perked up instantly.

"_Hyper Potion…_" I realised, looking at the strange purple bottle she was administering to them.

Kyogre now free from the torment let out a vicious roar and for one full moment I wholly expected it to turn on Mum, Lance and I, but a swift word from Dad immediately made it settle down and it quietened, just waiting for orders.

"You're right, Sienna. This isn't the time," Mum said slowly as Kyogre was pacified. "But don't think you're getting off the hook, young lady. You and I are going to have words after all this over."

From next to me I could have sworn I heard Lance stifle a giggle.

Suddenly my dad was taking a few steps forward, a wide grin spread across his face. He clasped his hands together, his long fingers interlocking and a look of uncharacteristic glee stared down at us. It made me nervous.

"My, my, my…" his voice was smooth and cool as he addressed us. "I haven't had the chance to see my two girls together in a long time…"

Disgust rose in me like bile. His "girls"? Who does he think is! What kind of right has he to call us his "girls" like that! My skin crawled with repulsion. "We're not your "girls"!" I spat.

"Too bad," he said, folding his arms but there was not an ounce of remorse in his voice. "Because if you were willing to give me a chance, I might think about sparing you from this Kyogre's wrath…"

"No way!" Mum shouted. "You don't _deserve _any more chances Cal! Not after this! Manectric, Mightyena, Arcanine, Houndoom! Get ready to attack!"

"Not a chance!" Dad yelled back. "Kyogre, its time to finish this! Use Whirlpool now!"

"Oh no!" Mum gasped and Lance swore viciously.

The waters in the pool surrounding Kyogre started to swell and moments later, they began to rise like they were under the influence of some unseen menace, like they were being manipulated by a master puppeteer. I could only watch in horror, rooted to the spot as the waters separated like the red sea and were whipped up into twisting peaks. The separate peaks started to rotate furiously, water splashing everywhere, before they merged into one giant spinning tornado of water! I started to scream as the tornado started to move off its own will, crossing the ground, heading straight for us, the impact kicked up from it beginning to rip rocks from the ground!

Even above the noises of the tornado, I could make out my father's next order.

"Now, Kyogre! Get rid of them now!"

The Kyogre bellowed and suddenly, the water he was creating accelerated in speed, powering towards us. I started to scream in fright as the massive wall of water suddenly was upon us!

"RUN!" Someone bellowed.

I tried. I honest to God tried to run. But it was no use. I could hear it gaining on us at an alarming speed; I knew it was going to be hopeless. In my blind panic, I frantically searched for someone to grab on to… Mum! Lance! Elliot! Someone! Anyone! But there was no-one there…

The icy cold water suddenly engulfed me, soaking me straight through and still screaming I was drawn in to the twisting water. I was pulled underneath the water! In my panic, I couldn't even clamp my mouth shut to hold my breath. My vision was swamped with spinning slabs of murky blue; the sound of water was rushing in my ears, I could feel my body being spun and spun and spun until I was dizzy… and my lungs were close to bursting and cried out for relief… desperate for air…

Then all of a sudden, we were swept forwards! I heard a massive crash and impact juddered all the way through my body. It happened again, and then again, but by this time, my body was being swamped with so much water that I could barely breathe anymore.

But then suddenly, something peculiar happened. The tornado of water seemed to lose its momentum. Then the water fell away and my lungs took in giant breaths of air again, waking me up from a state of near unconsciousness.

Then I was aware that I was falling…

I could hear the wind whistling, feel it whip through my body as I fell. But I couldn't open my eyes to see where I was or even attempt to move my body. My vision was completely blurred and darkened and my limbs barely responsive… so I focused on taking as many deep breaths as possible… trying to fill my waterlogged lungs as much as I could…

"_Strange…" _unlike my body or my vision, my brain seemed to be fine, completely unaffected by being submerged underwater for what had felt like ages. "_I seem to be falling… for a really really long time…_"

Then moments later I heard splashes. Then my back hit something cold and clammy and very very wet. I was plunged underwater, sinking, the sounds of rushing water filling my ears once again. I managed to open my eyes slightly against the pressure of the water and could just see the glimmer of the early morning sun rise against a backdrop of flawless sky and cottony clouds. It looked so beautiful. But I was sinking, further and further into this endless black abyss, my body too weak to even attempt to flail around, much less swim.

I could hear something far off telling me "_Sienna! Don't give up now! Start kicking! Swim, damn you, swim! Don't let him win!_"

"_But what's the point…?" _I thought, remembering my dad's triumphant face as he gleefully held Kyogre's Pokeball in his hands. "_He has Kyogre… I can't stop him now…what's the point in fighting anymore… He's won_… _I have to accept that… there's nothing I can do anymore…_"

At that point, something inside me fell on its side. My body gave up fighting against the pressure of the water and I slipped into a deep unconsciousness.

* * *

**Author's Note**

**Wow, this chapter was hard to write :( And it was originially going to be merged with the next one, but I thought better to make it standalone. **

**A lot happens here but I don't really have much to say about it! Haha! :) I've been listening to really loud rock music all day whilst writing it to get me "in the zone" Haha! :)**

**Chaison: I'm sad knowing its ending too! I won't know what to do with myself once its finished...**

**Splashstorm: Hee hee, I guessed that was what you meant. But I'm easily amused so it made me giggle :)**

**ArchXDeath: Yeah, you're right. Pedestal and Spirited are very different, but knowing what a fantastic, well known and respected writer Digital Skitty is, it's nice to even be COMPARED to her! :) And thank you very much for the lovely compliment! :)**

**AmpharosLover666: Yeah, even I find it weird calling Sienna's mum and dad Suzanne and Cal because they're always referred to as "my mum" or "my dad", so it gets a little weird even for me! :) Thanks for reviewing again! I knew Meloi being an Ampharos would make you happy! :)**

**Chayaa-chan: Aww, well I love YOU for saying such a lovely thing. **

**Something dictionary related: Wooo! 250 reviews! *dances* That's amazing :) Yeah, Mai and Kei are from my other fic, I thought it would be funny to include them just as an in-joke. And yes, there will be more legendaries :)**

**DarkLadyPegasus: Next chapter delievered as promised! :) Thank you so much for taking the time to read it especially when its getting quite long now, I imagine the length of it would scare off a lot of potential new readers. I can't tell you what's gonna happen, you're just gonna have to wait and s-e-e! :) **

**Well, thank you all for reading again! :) **

**Please read and review if you can :)**


	46. Losing Hope

At first all I knew was darkness.

"Sienna! Sienna! For god's sake, wake up! Wake _up_! Please!"

I could hear a voice. But it all sounded so distant… so far away… I didn't want to focus on it. My body was so tired… so so tired… I wanted to just roll over and go to sleep. But my body didn't respond to that wish. I couldn't move! I tried to twitch my limbs, just to test them out, but even that didn't work. It was like my body and consciousness weren't linked together any more. But I didn't mind. Just lying here… feeling like I was floating in the darkness… I felt like I was free. I just wanted to stay this way. Forever.

"Wake up!"

"_Why…? What's the point…? I've failed anyway… Why even bother…?"_

The voice all of a sudden disappeared. I was glad it was … I was too tired to listen to it anymore. I just wanted to go to sleep again… what was the point in waking up and dealing with the fact I had failed…? I felt so ashamed. I'd failed. And I wanted to forget about it all.

"Please, help her! Do something, Meloi!"

"_Meloi…_?"

A second later, I heard the scream of an Ampharos and electrical energy ripped through my immobile body. My whole body seized, the pain burned through me like I had been struck with white hot fire and I wanted to scream out, but I couldn't.

The shock ended and my body relaxed slightly, but still stinging from the pain. But I was able to open my eyes.

The first thing I saw was a flawless blue sky, unblemished bar a few wisps of cloud. Then a blurry giant yellow face butted into mine, bleating softly.

Even though every limb, every muscle, every _pore _screamed in agony, I slowly raised my throbbing, aching arm upwards to stroke Meloi on the head. She relaxed into my touch and looked at me with relieved eyes.

"Sienna! Oh thank God!"

Another face came into my view. I had to squint in the brightness of the sun to make out this new face. My vision was still hazy so it took me a while to focus properly. Even while I was trying to make out the details, something cold and wet kept dripping on my face. I couldn't work out for the life of me what it was. That is, until my vision eventually cleared and I started to make out features.

Male. Wet brown hair lying limply over a bleeding forehead. Black rimmed glasses. Emerald eyes wide, glazed and shiny with tears. Tears that were slipping down his face and dropping on mine. "_…Elliot is…crying…?"_

"El…Elliot?" I murmured.

Elliot let out a gasp of relief as I spoke. "Sienna! Tha…thank goodness you're all right...!"

In my completely fogged up brain, the only thing I could say to that was "Why… why are you upside down…?"

He let out a peal of crazed laughter and started to wipe his eyes, still chuckling weakly. "Oh Sienna… you're the one who's upside down!"

"Huh? I am?"

It was then I became conscious of the fact I was lying down. The ground beneath me was soft and grainy and shifted whenever I moved. My hand clenched around the ground instinctively and I found myself with a fistful of slippery earth that trickled finely through my fingers. I realised it was warm golden sand.

"_Sand…? Am I on a beach…? But how…? I wasn't on a beach before… the last thing I remember… the last thing I remember… I was…_"

"No!" I screamed, suddenly sitting bolt upright. Both Elliot and Meloi jumped in fright at my sudden movement. Memories flashed through my mind, horrible, terrifying, crushing memories and I put my head in my hands and burst into tears.

"Sienna?" I heard Elliot above me, sounding panicked. "Are you okay?"

"No, I'm not okay!" I howled, beating my fists into the grainy sand. "My Dad has Kyogre! I failed, Elliot! I was supposed to stop him and I failed!"

Elliot said nothing, but instead he knelt down to my level. A moment later, he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into a hug. That was the final blow and I couldn't stop myself from howling into him. Meloi squeezed herself in as well, making a low purring noise as if trying to comfort me as I sobbed.

"It'll be okay, Sienna…" Elliot murmured softly. "We can still stop them…"

"How!" I demanded bitterly, still sobbing. "He has _Kyogre_, Elliot! Kyogre! We can't stop him now! It's hopeless!"

"Yes, we can!" Elliot insisted feverishly. "All we have to do is find everyone else and go after them again!"

"Wait, what…?" I looked up at him, puzzled. ""Find" everyone again? What do you… mean? Aren't they all here…?"

But even as I said that, I realised that apart from Elliot and Meloi, I was alone on this massive expanse of sand. I darted to my feet straight away, trying to get a better look. We seemed to be in some sort of rocky cove, surrounded by high cliffs behind us and an expanse of deep ocean in front of us, cutting us off from everything. Overhead I heard the occasional caw of a Wingull and the only other noise was the lapping of the ocean as it tickled the shore and slipped away again. There was no-one else around!

"Elliot, where is everyone?" I demanded, desperately looking around for someone, _anyone_. There had been so many people back there in the Cave of Origin. My mum, Lance, Wallace, Misty, Flannery… all those trainers… where _were _they!

When I looked at him again, Elliot was holding a blood soaked rag that looked suspiciously like a scrap of clothing to his head, mopping up the last of the blood still dripping from his cut. "I don't know…" he said, looking up at me sadly. "All I remember is getting swept up in that Kyogre's wave… and then when I woke up, I was here. With you. But you were unconscious… you were barely breathing… I was…" he broke off, looking like he was going to cry. He laughed bitterly. "At first…I thought you were…dead… and then even when I saw you were breathing, you wouldn't wake up…"

I understood then. "So you got Meloi to shock me…?"

"Yeah…" he nodded. "I took her Pokeball and let her out. She panicked when she saw you unconscious… I guess that's the only reason she obeyed me and shocked you…"

"Yeah…" I murmured, patting her on the head. "That… that saved me. I was… ready to give up…"

"Sienna…!" he sounded horrified. "You can't give up!"

"But I can't do anything to stop him now…" The truth stung as it left my mouth and it hung in the air, heavy and imposing. "I failed, Elliot… What can anyone do to stop him now…?"

"Sienna…" Elliot looked at me, totally dumbfounded before his face suddenly hardened. "Don't ever talk like that!" he snapped.

I blinked in total surprise. "Wh…what…?"

"You're not the Sienna I know!" he pointed an accusing finger at me, making me shy away from him. "The Sienna I know doesn't give up so easily!"

"Elliott…?" I murmured.

"Do you remember when we met back in Pewter City?" Elliot was on the verge of shouting, his words hitting me hard. "You challenged me to a battle even though you only had one Pokemon and were barely a week into your training! And you didn't even care! Even when you were losing against me and Jet, you still never gave up!"

"Elliot…" I murmured softly. "You're forgetting… I _lost _against you back then. Perhaps your story would have a better impact if—"

"No, Sienna! No "ifs" here!" Elliot interrupted instantly. "I can't believe you're even _thinking _about giving up! You've never given up before! So why now?"

"I…I…I just…" I faltered, stammering over my words. "What… what good will it do…? He has _Kyogre_, Elliot…" I said tearfully. "I can't change anything."

"There's always hope."

"There's never hope…"

"Rubbish!" He said at once, looking at me intently. "So what if he has Kyogre? He's still a _man_! So he can still be taken down! Sienna," he caught my gaze and refused to let it go. "You've gotta reach for the stars, not for the ceiling."

His words confused me. Somehow I got the feeling those were words that meant a lot to him. Words that held a meaning beyond what I could understand. But still, I found myself saying to him "But the ceiling keeps you out of the rain."

"Sienna!" he said sharply, but then he relaxed his tone a little. "You've trained so long for this… you sacrificed so much to stop your dad. I can't believe you would give up like this. After everything he put you through… I can't believe _you _would let him get away with it…"

That stopped me. Elliot's words rang around my head like chiming, unrelenting bells, demanding my attention. I thought, very hard, about everything he had just said. As much as I hated to admit it, Elliot _was _right. What was I doing sitting here feeling sorry for myself? Especially when so much was at stake…

"Elliot…?"

"Yeah?" he looked up at me.

"We have to go after them."

A little smile touched on his face. "That's my girl."

I inexplicably blushed a little and stammered something incomprehensible. "W…w…well, you're right! I can't just give up!"

"Yeah," he nodded, getting to his feet. "And don't worry… I'm with you. No offence, but your dad needs to be stopped. He really, really does…"

"Don't I know it…?" I laughed nervously, but then I found myself falling quiet. "_He _does _need to be stopped. I can't believe I was all for just sitting here doing nothing, feeling sorry for myself while he rampages around Hoenn doing whatever he wants… God Sienna… what is _wrong _with you?"_

"Sienna…?" I heard Elliot say. "Are you okay?"

A shot of determination flashed through me and I pushed all my thoughts away. "Never mind me just now," I said defiantly. "We've got more important things to worry about just now," a quick check along my belt showed that I miraculously had held on to all six Pokeballs, even despite being plunged underwater for so long. "Do you know where we are?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "We're just short of Slateport."

"Slateport?" I repeated shrilly, not sure I had heard right. "How on _earth _did we get to Slateport from Sootopolis?"

"I know, it's a long way to drift for such a short period of time," Elliot observed and seeing my confused face, added. "It's only been five hours since the attack… there's no way we could have gotten here so soon by just naturally floating here…"

I stopped. "It's only been five hours!" I gasped.

"Yeah." Elliot nodded. "And I'll tell you another thing that doesn't make sense… I don't get how you and I ended up in the same place… it just seems like too big of a coincidence you and I would end up in the _exact _same place at the _exact _same time. I mean… I was completely separate from you and Lance… by all rights I shouldn't have ended up with you here…"

"That…that is suspicious…" I murmured.

Elliot was right. At the time Kyogre's giant wave had hit, Elliot had been placed on his brother's Dragonite, well away from myself, Lance and… my mother…"I… I don't even know how we _could _have "drifted" here… I remember being plunged underwater… and I think I fainted under there… I was drowning… I couldn't have just _drifted _here…"

"Good point…" Elliot nodded, letting out a long sigh. "I just hope everyone else is okay… I mean, if _we _survived… hopefully everyone else did too…"

"You think… people could have died…?" I whispered slowly.

"It's possible…" Elliot said softly. "Almost everyone in that cave was swept up in that Whirlpool of Kyogre's and thrown out into the ocean… they… they could've easily…drowned…" His voice suddenly broke and he put his head in his hands.

"_No…_" I thought, horrified. "_Drowned? No… please God no…_"

"They can't have drowned…" I said, collapsing onto my knees. "My… mum was there… and Lance… Wallace, Misty and Flannery would have been there too! They can't all…have…" I broke off, wanting to cry, but ferociously bit back my tears.

Elliot looked up as if something had suddenly occurred to him. "Sienna… your mother… she was there?"

"Yeah…"

Realization flashed onto his face. "That woman… with the brown hair… and those dog Pokemon…that was your mum?"

"Yeah…" I nodded. "That was her…"

"God…" Elliot said, his voice choked with emotion. "Th…that would have been awful… to see her… and then…"

"Yes. Yes it was." I cut him off abruptly. I was trying not to think about it. I had been chasing my mother for so long… then I see her, she yells at me for getting involved and then we're torn apart again so quickly… and now the possibility that she could have drowned was weighing heavily on my mind… I just… I just wanted to cry…

"Sienna...? Sienna? God, I'm sorry… I didn't mean to bring that up…"

"It… it doesn't matter." I said, straightening myself up. I tried to push those thoughts out of my head. I didn't know for _sure _that she had drowned… I didn't know that _anyone _was dead. All I did know was that only five hours since the attack had passed. I had to get a little perspective on what was important and what were still only possibilities. So little time had passed since dad had captured Kyogre. So that meant we still had a chance. "All that matters now is stopping my Dad."

Elliot nodded. "Yeah. And like I said, I'm with you all the way. Besides…" Elliot's eyes suddenly darkened. "If what… if what those bastards did… if that has…has… _killed _Lance… then… I want to make sure they pay for it…"

"You… you really think he could be…" I couldn't bring myself to say the word.

Elliot shook his head. "In truth…? I don't know… I don't even remember seeing him when the typhoon hit… but I do remember… when Tropius got hit and I fell and hit my head…" he indicated the nasty gash on his lower temple. "Lance came straight away to make sure I was all right… he really looked after me… and now if he's dead without me ever getting to thank him for that… I couldn't… I mean, I can't…"

"It's okay, Elliot." I soothed him. "Lance is tough… I doubt a bit of water could stop him,"

"It wasn't just a "bit" of water, Sienna." Elliot said, but he was chuckling all the same. "But yeah… I get what you mean. And if it's any consolation, your mum seems like a tough one as well. I'm sure she won't be… you know…"

"Yeah… I know." I managed a watery smile.

A silence passed whilst Elliot tossed the bloody rag he had been using to the ground. He then looked up at me. "So… what's the plan?"

I considered this. The best thing, I reasoned was to head back to Sootopolis. If it really had only been five hours after the attack, then it was still reasonable enough to expect that dad and his team of trainers will still there.

"I think the best thing to do is go back to Sootopolis," I replied. "Do you think Tropius could get us there?"

Elliot looked a little doubtful. "I… I don't know. Tropius took a pretty nasty hit back then. I don't know if he can… I'll check though," he added hastily when he saw my face fall. He produced his Tropius's Pokeball and tossed it forward.

His Tropius appeared and my heart sank. He was bleeding badly, his eyes lidded and glazed and could barely respond when Elliot spoke to him softly. I felt a stab of sadness as I watched this poor Pokemon barely able to acknowledge the presence of his trainer. There was no way… no way that Tropius could take us all the way to Sootopolis.

"It's okay…" Elliot murmured, wrapping his arms around his injured Tropius's body. "Go back into your Pokeball and rest…"

As Tropius disappeared back into its Pokeball I asked nervously "Is he okay…?"

"He will be," Elliot nodded. "He just needs to rest. But that means we're out of a ride to Slateport…"

"Can't you heal him or something?"

"With what?" Elliot spread his arms, indicating he had nothing. "I lost my bag when I was in the water. I lost all my supplies."

"Well, I still have _my _bag!" I ripped it off my back and started searching through it, but to my despair, I found no Potions. Or any of my berries. Not even an escape rope. But the precious things, the photograph, the badge case and whatever else were fine, sealed up in the zipped pocket. "Okay… but I don't have my Potions…"

"Okay…" Elliot breathed out. "So what are we gonna do? How are we meant to get all the way to Sootopolis from Slateport! That's almost a week's journey!"

"I know, I know!" I replied tearfully. "That'll be too late! Dad will have caused havoc all over Hoenn by then! We need to get there _now _if we want to have _any _chance of stopping him!"

"Calm down, Sienna, calm down!" Elliot tried to act cool and collected, but his voice held a panicked edge to it that I couldn't fail to notice. "We've just got to find a solution… I know, do you have any water Pokemon we could ride there?"

"Just Aurora…" I said, showing him Aurora's Pokeball. "But she's quite small… and she's still weak from the attack earlier. There's no way she could take us both there! But what about you? Do you not have any other Pokemon that could take us there?"

Elliot shook his head. "No… I don't have anyone else that could help…"

"So what the hell do we do?" I gasped, shrilly.

Before Elliot could answer me, one of the Pokeballs at my waist started to shake. I looked down in shock to see a Pokeball twitching and jumping around at my waist. I grabbed it and it began protesting and shuddering in my grasp. I dropped it and it burst open, revealing a very panicked Indigo. She looked at me and brayed urgently, pawing at me, trying to get my attention.

"Indigo? What's the matter?"

She bleated again, head-butted me, turned on her heel and started galloping across the sand.

"Indigo!" I called after her as she dashed across the sand. "Indigo?"

"What's the matter with her?" Elliot asked, coming to my side.

"I don't know…" I replied, puzzled, my eyebrows furrowing together in genuine confusion. "I've never seen her act like this before…"

As I stood there, wondering what the hell had gotten into my Girafarig, she turned around again and started jumping up and down on the spot, snorting and pawing the ground impatiently. Then she was racing back towards me. She grasped her large teeth around the fraying material of my jeans and started pulling.

"Indigo! What's the matter?"

Then she started to run off again, looking behind her every now and again at me and Elliot, braying. Her behaviour was starting to worry me until I finally realised what she was getting at. I looked back at Elliot urgently. "She wants us to follow her!" I gasped, breaking into a run after her.

"Wait… what?" Elliot was a bit slower on the uptake and it wasn't until I was a good few metres ahead of him that he finally cottoned on and started chasing after us.

Indigo was leading us right across the sandy beach, galloping at full speed. I was running as fast as my sore and waterlogged body would allow me across the shifting, slippery sands, but Indigo was getting further and further away from me. All of a sudden, Elliot was running next to me, taking advantage of his longer legs to push himself forward. My legs were short and barely responsive from the day's events and soon Elliot had passed me. I cursed to myself as he overtook me. I had spent ages strengthening my own body and my own stamina but now I was tiring quickly…

Indigo led us right around the cove to the bottom of the heavy cliffs encircling the coves. As she and Elliot raced on ahead, I slowed down, trying to get my breath back. As I got closer, I saw Elliot and Indigo kneeling down in front of something at the bottom of the cliffs. I jogged up to them, wondering what was going on. I could hear Elliot murmuring something as I moved closer.

I dodged around Elliot and Indigo and looked down to see a waterlogged brown Pokemon lying curled up in a ball, breathing heavily. Elliot was speaking to it, but it couldn't even look up to him.

"Sienna…?" Elliot ventured worriedly, touching the heaving body and looking at me as I knelt down for a closer look.

"Oh my Goodness…" I murmured as I realised who this was. "Alakazam?"

* * *

**Author's Note**

**Sorry for the wait! My part of Scotland was hit with really bad winds and storms and the power was off for ages and the internet was down so I couldn't update!**

**Will just go straight into the thanks and the review replies as the internet is still pretty sketchy**

**Chaison: Don't worry, Opposites Attract will be getting some good attention after Spirited is concluded. **

**WOWfan123: Wow, thank you very much! :) I'm so happy! Hope I can fix that little error when I get a chance. **

**eeveelutionluvr: Nikki and Jazz will be showing up again soon, don't worry :) **

**DarkLadyPegasus: Aww, thank you very much :) Here is the newest chapter, a little later than expected. **

**Something Dictionary Related: Thanks for the reviews! You always review so dedicatedly, thank you! **

**Splashstorm: Thank you for the review! :) You're another amazing reviewer!**

**Chayaa-chan: Hee hee, Lance can have a slight immature attitude! Something I'd like to explore a little more :)**

**WildCroconaw: You're just gonna have to keep reading to find out! :)**

**An awkward boner: Wow, that was a happy coincidence! Amazing! :) And thanks for reviewing for the first time. I LOVE first time reviewers! **

**The Warrior of Many Faces: Eeeeek! You're back! I'm so happy! :) Thank you so much for your kind words and lovely review! Haha! I honestly thought no-one would like my Do You Know the Poffin Man chapter but it seems to be one of the most liked or well-responded to ones. :) I'm so happy! Your review really made my day.**

**Thank you all for continuing to read and review. I feel so honoured! :) I hope I can continue to make my readers happy and not disappoint any of you**

**Please read and review if you can ;)**


	47. Dread

I looked at the sorry state this poor, drenched Alakazam was in and my heart gave a painful twist. His body was heaving slowly; his eyes tightly squeezed shut and his breathing sounding sharp and laboured. Just looking at the poor creature made me want to cry…

"Sienna…?" I heard Elliot venture slowly. "Is this _the _Alakazam…?"

"Yeah," I nodded, stroking Alakazam's head, thinking of nothing else I could do. "This is _the _Alakazam…"

"So what's he doing here…?"

"I don't know…" I murmured, starting to shake the Alakazam slightly as Indigo whinnied nervously as I tried to rouse him. "Alakazam? Alakazam? Can you hear me?"

The Alakazam muttered somethin and stirred a little as I shook him. Although it took some time, eventually he started to come round. But he was weak… worryingly weak. He could barely open his eyes to look at me. He could barely even cling onto his spoons.

"Alakazam… are you okay…?"

"I… I will be child…"

His voice was weak and scratchy, and faded in and out in places, like a scratched record. I murmured in worry. "Alakazam…?"

"Forgive me… the… the connection is not… good…" his voice kept faltering and wavering as he spoke.

"Shhh…" I murmured. "Just try and rest. Get your strength back!"

"No!" he protested and his voice took on an edge and momentarily strengthened. But that one outburst seemed to tire him and he slumped down again. "No… no time for resting, child… mu…much work to be done…"

"Alakazam…" I said slowly. "What are you doing here…?"

"I… I had to help…" he started, before his voice cracked and wavered dangerously. My heart leapt to my mouth and fear clutched me from the inside. He carried on regardless, noticeably forcing his words out. "I… had to help… when I realised you had not stopped—"

"Yes, Alakazam, I know…" I said at once, feeling a wave of shame wash over me. "I'm… I'm so sorry… I couldn't stop him…"

"Ne…never mind apologies now…" he seemed to be attempting to stand up, but I forcibly kept him down, suddenly feeling terrified for his wellbeing. "We have…have… to deal with the problems at hand…"

"But how…?" I asked softly. "We're miles away from Sootopolis and we don't have any way to get back there. Elliot's Tropius is injured… he can't help us."

A puzzled look appeared on Alakazam's strained face. "Whe…where are we?"

"Slateport."

"Damn…" the Alakazam said hoarsely, but he seemed to be regaining at least a little strength. "I never expected to teleport us _this _far away from Sootopolis… I… I must be losing my touch."

Elliot and I looked at each other in surprise. "_You _brought us to Slateport?" Elliot asked.

"Indeed…" Alakazam said weakly.

"How?"

"Once I picked up that Kyogre had been captured, I teleported myself to Sootopolis to step in. But… I am too old now for such long, spontaneous journeys… it almost killed me to do it… and I arrived too late. I was only able to see the Kyogre launch an attack on you… and then see you fall under the water. You were unconscious. You could have died… so I did the only thing I could do."

"You…you saved me…?"

He nodded slowly. "I had no choice but to dive in and pull you above the surface… And as for your friend Elliot, he was drifting close to us when I pulled you above. I could not knowingly leave anyone to drown, so had little choice but to take him as well. With the two of you, I tried to teleport back to Sootopolis. But the currents were strong and I am not as young as I was… teleporting short distances is fine… but I was tired and weakened, and with two passengers along with me… I lost my focus and we ended up here…"

"Oh, Alakazam…" I murmured softly.

"You saved us though, sir." Elliot said, humbly. "Thank you so much. But… but I don't suppose… you know of what happened to everyone else...?"

"I'm afraid… I cannot say…" Alakazam looked down to the sandy ground. "My priority was and always was Sienna. She's the only one who can still stop her father. The others, regrettably, cannot help. It sounds harsh to say so, but they are unimportant to the grand scheme of things. When it came down to it, I could only save Sienna. You're just lucky you happened to be there, Elliot."

Elliot looked crushed, like he was about to cry again. "So…my brother…?"

"What about my mum?" I inquired urgently.

He shook his head again. "I… I don't know…"

"What do you mean you don't know!" I asked immediately. "You can see into the future! You're _psychic_! Can't you… can't you _tell_? Please, you have to…"

"Ordinarily, I _would_ be able to tell you. But… my powers have been severely drained from having to teleport to Sootopolis and then get you two to safety. Then teleporting us here… it has exhausted me… and if I could do it, I would. In a heartbeat. But I cannot give you the answers you are looking for."

A look of horror passed across Elliot's face and I collapsed my head into my hands.

"Easy, child." I felt the Alakazam pat me on the head. "Things will work out okay. Your family and friends will be fine. But for the moment, we have more important things to concern ourselves with. Sienna… you _must _stop your father. If you do not, the world will—"

"I know, Alakazam, I know…" I interjected, sighing. "But _how _can I get to Sootopolis?"

"Your father is not in Sootopolis, Sienna."

"What?" I gasped. "He's… he's not?"

"No." Alakazam shook his head, looking sad. "I used the last of my psychic energy to track him and his movements… and I found some worrying information."

"Like what…?"

He swallowed. "Your father… he… he has already started using Kyogre to his advantage. Sootopolis City has been ravaged by him already… and he has already moved on to the mainland."

My jaw dropped and in my terror, I could not say anything. Elliot however said plenty.

"He's… he's _destroyed _Sootopolis!"

"Not completely…" Alakazam said evasively. "But there is severe damage… people are suffering greatly there…"

"Oh my God…" I murmured, horrified. "He… he hurt people…?"

"Indeed," Alakazam nodded gravely.

I felt sick. Physically sick, with anger and rage and disgust. How dare he use that Pokemon to hurt people? Innocent people who had never done a thing to him in their lives? "Wh…where is he, Alakazam…?" I asked, my voice taking on a hardened edge.

"I cannot say for sure, but it would be my guess that he is heading for Lavaridge."

"Lavaridge?" I gasped. "Why?"

"To capture Groudon, I would imagine."

"Why?"

"Legend tells of another Pokemon tied in with Groudon and Kyogre… perhaps he hopes that gaining both Kyogre and Groudon will allow him to find the _other _Pokemon associated with the legend…"

"Another… Pokemon?" Elliot said, awed. "Another legendary?"

"Yes," Alakazam nodded. "This Pokemon is known by the name of Rayquaza. It holds powers that exceed even the capabilities of Kyogre and Groudon _combined_."

"The bastard…" I spat out. "It's all about power, isn't it!"

"So…" Elliot cut in slowly as I fumed silently to myself. "If Sienna's dad is in Lavaridge… that's still quite a way away… how do we get there?"

"It's too dangerous for you to travel on foot." Alakazam said. "I fear that your father's men will be patrolling the area in and around Lavaridge. Neither of you would be able to get in there without being seen. Also, considering the sorry state your Pokemon are in… you wouldn't last ten minutes if you were seen and challenged."

"So what do we do?" Elliot and I demanded in unison.

"I have no choice but to take you there myself,"

"Are you sure?" I asked immediately.

"Yeah! You said it yourself, you're weak. Can you really make it…?" Elliot chipped in.

"I may be old and weak, but I'm _certainly _not dead. Don't count this old man out just yet." Alakazam said, slowly getting to his feet. "Besides, this it too important to be ignore just because I'm a little weakened…"

"Thank you Alakazam…" I murmured. "Thank you so much,"

"Save your sentiments for later, child." Alakazam said snidely.

"Uh…" I stuttered, not quite sure what to say to that…

"Now," Alakazam continued like a captain giving his orders. "I have to warn you that once we arrive in Lavaridge, I will be extremely weak and unable to defend myself. I will rely on your protection to keep me safe from harm."

"Of course!" I said at once and Elliot nodded furiously.

"Very well then," Alakazam said. "I shall take you there now. Brace yourselves."

He took a hold of one of my hands and then one of Elliot's, who was looking more than slightly bemused at this whole situation. Alakazam fidgeted for a moment, trying to centre himself and started to concentrate hard. A strange feeling slowly started to come over me and my whole body started tingling.

"_What's going on here…?_" I thought to myself. "_This is totally different from last time. Last time it was so instantaneous…"_

All around me the scenery started to slowly blur, all the colours melding and mixing together until it resembled the paint on an artist's palette. Then all of a sudden, I felt like my body was being pulled upwards. I was (somewhat) used to this so it didn't shock me as much, but as soon as the momentum hit us, Elliot let out a terrified, uncharacteristic and downright girly screech. I would have laughed if the situation were not so serious.

Moments later, we came down with a thud. As soon as the impact of the ground hit me, my knees buckled and I slammed straight into the earth. I heard Elliot come down with a similar thud and he groaned theatrically. I raised my head slightly as my limbs tingled and stung with pain and saw him comically sprawled on his backside, let out slow, anguished groans. I couldn't stop myself from giggling. "You all right there, Elliot?"

"Just about…" he groaned.

My view touched on grassy earth and tall trees and a thick, noticeable heat in the air. Not a sandy beach in sight. Alakazam had done it!

"I'm gonna go see where we are," Elliot said and had scampered off before I could even say anything to the contrary.

While Elliot went off to scout around the terrain, I decided to look around to find Alakazam. I scanned right across the landscape until finally, my eyes touched on a figure, lying face down in the grass. He wasn't making a sound or even moving. Panic surged through me like I'd just been shot. Without thinking, I jumped to my feet and sprinted up to him. I collapsed down next to him, taking him in my arms. I started to shake his unresponsive body again, shouting his name. "Alakazam? Alakazam?"

He managed to open his eyes and look at me. The poor thing was breathing so heavily and was so exhausted and I felt scared even looking at him, struggling to even catch his breath.

"Do… not… panic… child…" every word he spoke was punctuated with a wheezing, sharp breath that tugged viciously at my heartstrings.

"Oh Alakazam…" I murmured softly, stroking his hot, sweaty face. "You did so well… thank you so much…"

He couldn't even muster up the strength to reply…

"Sienna!" I heard Elliot shouting for me.

"What is it?" I called back.

From a short distance away, Elliot came jogging up to us. "Sienna, we're just outside Lavaridge. The town is just up ahead."

"Really?" I gasped. "Is the town okay?"

"Seems to be fine," Elliot nodded. "Its quiet, but everything seems to be fine. No damage or anything," He grinned, looking down at Alakazam. "You did it, Alakazam. You did it!"

Alakazam said nothing, but merely closed his eyes. A tiny contented smile appeared on his face. "I… am glad."

For some reason, a sense of inexplicable panic was roused in me as Alakazam smiled and relaxed in my arms.

"Sienna…" he said softly, his breathing still heavy and strained. "You must promise me something…"

"What…?" I whispered, having to lean in closer to hear him properly.

"You must stop your father from obtaining Groudon." Alakazam said weakly. "If he is allowed to capture Groudon, he really _will _be unstoppable… this is of paramount importance… I need you to promise that you will do _whatever _it takes to stop him. _Whatever_ it takes," he emphasised.

"Of course…" I murmured. "I'll do anything…"

"Good…" Alakazam said softly, and then closed his eyes again.

"Elliot…" I ventured slowly. "I think we should get Alakazam to the Pokemon Centre. I'm a little worried about him."

"I think you're right…" Elliot's voice held a worried edge to it as he looked Alakazam up and down. "He doesn't look very good…"

I looked down at Alakazam, feeling worry and panic stab urgently at my heart. "Come on, help me get him up," I said, trying to haul the near unconscious Alakazam up, but failing miserably. He weighed at least as much as I did and was damn near as tall as me so it didn't come easy. Somehow though between the two of us we managed to get him up and we slowly, tentatively made our way to the Pokemon Centre in Lavaridge.

With every step we took Alakazam grunted in pain and a horrible sense of dread was nagging me, demanding my attention. Alakazam looked like he was so weak and in so much pain. Yes, he had said that teleporting such long distances so frequently severely drained him now… but I never expected him to be this bad…

"We're almost there, Alakazam…" I assured him as the Pokemon Centre slowly came into our view in the distance.

What Elliot had said had proven to be true. Lavaridge Town appeared to be completely free of destruction, whether it be past damage or recent, but the place was eerily, scarily quiet. A thin wind bit at my exposed skin, sending violent cold shudders up my spine. Not one person in the whole town was out or about… we saw not a soul. And that feeling of dread was stronger and more terrifying than ever.

"_I don't like this…_" I thought to myself, my eyes darting around the empty, tiny town. "_I don't like this at all…_"

It was a difficult procedure getting into the Pokemon Centre. I had to push the door open with my back and slowly carry Alakazam, all the time attempting to keep the door propped open in case it swung back on us. I ended up tentatively backing my way in there, with no clue if I was going to walk into something on my way in.

However… something was wrong.

The minute I set foot in that place I knew something was up. The Centre was totally empty. And completely silent. The noises of Pokemon Centres I had become so used to did not greet me as normal as I entered. No shouting, no calls of Pokemon, no hum of equipment, no incoherent buzzing of televisions and videophones and computers, just muffled silence and pitch black scenery.

I got a proper look a few moments later. There were no trainers in the Pokemon Centre at all. No Pokemon. Not even a Nurse Joy. The whole place was plunged in murky darkness, the curtains drawn straight against the windows. The floor was strewn with books and littered with glass, tables and chairs had been upended, computers and television screens had been smashed in, sofas and couches had been ripped into shreds… the entire of the centre looked like it had been totally ransacked…

"What on earth happened here…?" Elliot breathed out in shock as we looked at this mess in front of us. "The place looks like its been…"

"I know…" I cut him off, looking at the state of the Pokemon Centre. "Who… who could have done this…?"

Almost cheesily on cue, I heard a noise come from far away in the distance. Elliot and I looked at each other nervously, Elliot mouthing "someone's here" at me. I squinted in the darkness and just made out two figures picking their way across the floor and ducking behind the counter that the Nurse Joy usually stood behind. They were speaking in low hushed voices and moments later, I heard the rattling of what sounded like bottles and then a series of loud crashes and the sounds of glass shattering.

"You clumsy idiot!" I heard someone shout as bottles smashed against the floor.

"Sorry, boss!" I heard someone else say. "But it's so dark in here! Why'd you have to cut the lights like that?"

"Show a little respect! But… I see your point… hang on a moment. Butterfree, use Flash!"

I heard the sounds of a Pokeball being released and seconds later, the room was lit up with a brilliant white light. Elliot and I both blinked, momentarily stunned in the harsh light until eventually my vision settled on two men. They were both dressed head to toe in black uniforms and held bundles of items in their arms. However, they both stopped dead when they saw myself and Elliot and Alakazam.

"Oh God…" I said to myself in horror as I focused, really focused, on the man who had the Butterfree.

"You?" the other gasped in shock. "Cal's daughter? You… you're meant to be dead!"

"Oh, she's like her father, right enough…" the other man commented snidely, complete with an irate "Free! Free!" from his Butterfree. "Doesn't go down easily… Bah, I should have squashed her when I had the chance…"

"Sienna…?" Elliot murmured worriedly. "Who is that man…?"

"One of the men that works under my dad," I said, watching the man's face coil into a twisted smirk. "I had a little… run in with him before,"

"Indeed…" the man was shooting me an intense, serious glare. "And if I had known the trouble you were to cause us on our quest for Kyogre, I would have finished you off when I had the chance and not taken pity on you like the fool I was…"

Elliot tensed next to me.

"Now, tell me. What are you doing here?" the man interrogated me.

"You people just can't take a telling, can you…? I'm _here _to stop you! I know what you're doing! You got Kyogre, so now you want to get Groudon, don't you? You think that having Kyogre will give you the advantage over him, don't you? Well, I'm not gonna let you do that!"

The man with the Butterfree looked momentarily flummoxed before he exchanged a couple of words with the man next to him. He then turned his hardened gaze on me, staring me down. "Damn you… how do you always know so much?" his eyes darkened. "You need to be stopped. Before you can cause us any more damage…"

He held a Pokeball up high. "Go, Empoleon!"

Both of us gasped as the Empoleon burst from the Pokeball. It let out a vicious shriek and looked down its long beak at Elliot and I, a nasty glint appearing in its beady eye.

My hand instinctively went to my belt for a Pokeball myself, but then I remembered in horror that all my Pokemon were injured. Elliot had the same look of abject terror on his face that I assumed meant he was in the same situation as me…

"My Pokemon are too injured to fight!" Elliot cried, looking at me urgently. "I already got beaten up by some of the other trainers before I found you back in the Cave of Origin! There's no way I can take on that thing!"

"I can't either…" My voice came out in a thin croak as I realised just how much trouble we were in. The only Pokemon I had that weren't injured were Kiba and Cairo… there was no way either of them could stand up to this monster of an Empoleon.

The Empoleon was slowly advancing on us, the man with the Butterfree following it, a wicked smirk on his face. "This has been long overdue… you should have been dead a long time ago… just for being the daughter of that _idiot _Cal Volbeda if anything else…"

"You know, considering he's your boss, you don't speak very highly of him!"

"Hah!" the man let out a crazed snort of laughter, and then his eyes darkened dangerously. "You're as naïve as ever… You know… just because Cal Volbeda _captured _Kyogre does not mean he's the one calling _all _the shots here…"

"What…?" his words made me stop. "_What does he mean…?_ _Wait… he said something similar back when I first met him… he called me "naïve" and "innocent" when I mentioned him working under my dad…_"

"Oh no…" I heard Alakazam murmur in horror next to me. "How could I have been so stupid… it all makes sense now...!"

I looked at Alakazam in confusion. "What…? What do you—"

"Now, Empoleon…"

"Quick, you must get away!" Alakazam was suddenly yelling. "Leave me and run away!"

"What? No!" I protested at once.

"Listen, you must run! Forget about me! I'll keep these three distracted and you run for it! You _must _get up to Mt Chimney!"

"I'm not leaving you!" I cried insistently. "You're too weak to defend yourself now!"

"I won't argue with you, child! Run!"

"Empoleon! Use Aqua Jet!"

As Empoleon let out a frenzied roar and fired a vicious blast of water that streamed towards us, I let out a scream. I wanted to run, but I couldn't leave Alakazam to the mercy of that monster! Panic shot through me and I wanted to do so many things at once that I ended up doing none of them…

"_What the hell am I going to do_?"

* * *

**Author's Note**

**Only a quick wee author's note here as I leave for uni again tomorrow and I still haven't packed! Ooops! :( **

**Spirited will be going on a temporary hiatus for the next week or so. What with travelling, settling back into my halls, ReFreshers week and getting back into a routine of lectures and seminars I doubt I'll get much chance for writing. I'm so sorry! But I promise I won't pull another "I'll be going on a temporary hiatus" and then disappearing for four months. None of that this time. It really is only temporary. **

**Things to look out for in the final chapters: deciet, battles, a whole lotta legendaries, reunions, revelations, death and maybe even a little love... **

**Hope this will keep you all eager for more! :)**

**Thank you all again for your continued dedication! Personal responses will pick up in the next chapter**

**Until next time ;)**


	48. Where There is Death

"Get out of the way, child!"

A strange energy engulfed me, taking over my body and seconds later I was tossed aside as easily as a ragdoll. I think I screamed as the force lifted me up. After only a few moments of being airborne, I slammed into a wall. Pain shot through my body, winding me. I heard Elliot shouting in pain, then a series of heavy thuds, followed by a high pitched, wrenching scream. My eyes flashed open with fright. I saw a figure lying in front of me. A sudden horrifying flash of terror reverberated through me when I realised it was Alakazam.

"Alakazam!" I screamed.

He was lying there; face down on the floor, only a little ways away from us. I scrambled to my feet, completely ignoring Elliot who was still struggling to get up, and sprinted over to Alakazam's side. I dropped to my knees and began shaking Alakazam in a frenzy, calling his name, not even caring about the two men laughing in the background.

Alakazam's whole body was weak, limp and totally unresponsive. His eyes were shut and the only indication he was even alive was the slightest rise and fall of his chest. "Alakazam!" I cried, begging him to rouse. "Please! Wake up!"

"_He can't die!_" I thought frantically, feeling hot tears form in my eyes. "_He… he can't…_"

"Leave it be," the man with the Butterfree's cold voice rang out from near to me, and I whipped my head up to be faced with his imposing frame towering over me, A nasty glint shone in his eyes and a superior smirk was spreading over his smug face. "That Alakazam will die anyway. Why it would risk its life for you, I don't know."

"No…" was all I was able to say tearfully as I looked down at Alakazam as he struggled to breathe. "He can't… he can't… I won't…"

"Sienna…?"

I heard Elliot's voice and a moment later, he was crouching down next to me. I took a glance at him and saw him pale and wide eyed, his attention fixed wholly on Alakazam. His body started to tremble as he looked him up and down. "Alakazam…?" his voice cracked as he spoke.

At Elliot's voice, a slight tremor ran through Alakazam's body. I felt a shift in him and as I watched, hardly daring to avert my gaze, his own eyes opened slowly. But while Alakazam's eyes were normally alert and all seeing, they were now glazed over, barely focusing, like he was looking through me, not at me…

"Alakazam!" I said, giving him a tiny shake, praying that he would respond. "Please!"

His mouth parted and a single sentence escaped him in a weak croak. His voice was so scratchy, so thin, that it made my heart sore. "You must stop them… or the world will never be the same again…"

I watched in horror as his face slowly contorted and he let out a low moan of pain. He spoke once more, but only once. "I only regret…" he whispered. "I only regret… I could not have done more…"

Hot tears began blurring and blotting my vision, and dripping down my cheeks. I felt the threat of sobs come but I tried valiantly to hold them back. I couldn't cry. Not now. I just couldn't. And then, as I was holding him, a terrible shudder ran through Alakazam's body, his chest rose and then all his breath escaped him in one long, juddering exhale. Then his eyes slowly closed, his head lolled to the side and he became still. And I knew he was gone…

For one long, horrible moment all I could do was stare numbly and in horror at Alakazam's body. His lifeless body. The realisation was crushing. Alakazam was… Alakazam was gone. He was dead… he was _dead_!

Then all of a sudden, the man with the Butterfree grabbed me roughly by the arm and yanked me upwards. Whilst I protested, the Empoleon crept up and seized Elliot, suctioning him to its massive body. He shouted and struggled, but the Empoleon had easily overpowered him. As for me, the man's grip was so tight I couldn't get away, and I started screaming hysterically, desperately pulling and protesting, suddenly filled with fear, terror and anguish.

"Enough!" the man with the Butterfree screamed. Something in his voice compelled me to be still and I looked up to his cold, hard stare. His eyes hardened and darkened as he looked down his long nose at me. "You have done enough meddling… it's time to put a stop to your interfering ways for good."

It was at this point I knew I was going to have to do something drastic.

With a burst of strength I wasn't quite sure belonged to me, I was able to wrench my arm from the man's iron grasp. He let out a shout of surprise as I jerked away, pivoted on my heel and grabbed the only two Pokeballs left on my belt. The man with the Butterfree stopped dead in his tracks as I held up my Pokeballs, but then he smirked and laughed, shaking his head. "You really think you can take me with just two Pokemon? Don't make me laugh!"

"Sienna!" Elliot protested, his voice taking on a panicked edge. He was struggling violently against the Empoleon's massive girth, but it was useless. "Don't do it! There's no way you can win against them!"

"Pitiful," the man with the Butterfree spat, then turned to his associate, folding his arms casually. "Jack, take care of this little rat for me."

"With pleasure, Boss." the other man, Jack, chuckled heinously. His hand went to the Pokeballs at his waist and he slowly, deliberately extracted them, a wicked smile upon his face. He tossed them, almost casually towards the ground and his Pokemon erupted in flashes of brilliant white light. "Go, Typhlosion and Gardevoir!"

I paled and felt physically sick at the sight of these two Pokemon. I was up against a Typhlosion, a powerful Fire type, and Gardevoir, one of the most powerful Psychic types I had ever seen. Even just the sight of them radiated power and immense strength! These Pokemon were certainly not to be underestimated! I mean, if this guy, Jack, was working closely with the man with the Butterfree under my dad, they must be on similar skill levels! Panic was beginning to set in I looked at what I was faced with. Last time I had fought the man with the Butterfree, I had been wiped out! But I couldn't let that happen this time! This was just too important! I had to win! I just had to!

"Kiba! Cairo! Let's go!"

Both Jack and the other man flat out laughed as soon as they saw my competition. Kiba was still just a little ball of fluff compared to most other Growlithes his age and his little growls barely carried any threat as they sounded weak and pitiful in the silent of the Pokemon centre. And as for Cairo, well… he was just standing there looking the massive Typhlosion and Gardevoir up and down, trembling.

"Look at this, Jack!" The man with the Butterfree cackled. "She really thinks she can take us on with _this _pitiful team?"

"I know, Nathan!" Jack laughed tauntingly.

"_Nathan…_" At the mention of a name, I stopped and I looked the man with the Butterfree up and down. "_His name is Nathan…_?"

"Sienna!" Elliot's voice cut through my thoughts. "You can't win against them! Just run! Just get away!"

"No!" Suddenly I was snapped back into my senses and my eyes swept across to Alakazam's body. Anger engulfed me and I shot both Nathan and Jack furious looks. "You killed Alakazam! I can't let you get away with that!" The rage came again, sweeping across me in hot waves. "And you're people who are working for my dad! I will not let you capture Groudon! Legendary Pokemon aren't _meant _to be controlled by humans! Especially not by people like _you_! Not by people like my dad!"

"You foolish girl!" Nathan suddenly barked, making me jump.

"You still don't get it, do you?" Jack cried.

I wanted to scream out "Get _what_?" I was so confused. What did these people _mean_? Why were they saying such bizarre things? I didn't understand! But I had no time to think on it, as Jack gave the order for his Pokemon to advance and use their attacks! The Typhlosion and Gardevoir were suddenly closing in on my Kiba and Cairo. I had to think fast! I had to win this fight!

"Kiba, Cairo, dodge out of the way!"

Both of my Pokemon leapt out of the way just in time as Gardevoir and Typhlosion thundered past, barely missing me in the process! I let out a screech and dove out of the way, running to a safer place to watch the battle and give my orders. I seemed to strike it lucky though as while Typhlosion and Gardevoir were momentarily flummoxed, it was a perfect opportunity to gather my courage and get ready to engage myself in the battle.

"_Remember why you're doing this! For Alakazam… you need to stop the prophecy he foresaw coming true! You need to stop your Dad from capturing the Legendary Pokemon!"_

"Kiba, use Bite on the Gardevoir! Cairo, use Sand Tomb on the Typhlosion!"

My strategy was simple. Bite, being a Dark type move, was super effective against Psychic Pokemon, and as far as I could see, the greater threat lay with Jack's Gardevoir, which meant I had to take that out first. Typhlosion, although it was a powerful Pokemon, I had at least some advantages over it. Kiba was a Fire type and Cairo was a Ground type rendering Fire attacks from the Typhlosion ineffective against them. I figured if I could at least keep the Typhlosion occupied whilst Kiba dealt with the Gardevoir, I could get rid of the biggest threat and then easily take out the Typhlosion with both Pokemon. It was fool-proof!

Well… let's be honest. Who was I kidding? When have things ever gone like _I _planned?

It started out well enough, I had to admit. Things _almost _looked like they were going to go my way for once. Cairo, for once, managed to pull off the Sand Tomb attack, engulfing the Typhlosion in vicious, swirling sands, blinding it and rooting it to the spot. Whilst Cairo kept the Typhlosion busy, Kiba launched himself, snarling, at the Gardevoir, sinking his sharp fangs into the Gardevoir's fragile body.

"Yes!" I enthused as the Gardevoir let out a howl of pain and retracted sharply away from Kiba. "All right, Kiba, let's use Ember!"

"Gardevoir, use Protect!"

I let out a gasp as the Gardevoir let out a musical cry, and a transparent shield hued with greens and blue sprung up around its long, lithe body. Kiba's flames hit the shield and simply bounced off, disappearing into nothingness.

"Now, Gardevoir! Use Psychic!"

"Kiba!" I let out a screech as the incredible strength of the telekinetic energy slammed straight into Kiba, making him fly backwards and hit the ground hard. "Are you okay?"

"Growl…" Kiba whined, slowly pushing himself up to his feet.

Even worse, whilst I was preoccupied with Kiba, the Typhlosion somehow was able to free itself from Cairo's Sand Tomb! It sped towards poor Cairo using a Quick Attack, colliding straight with his tiny body! Cairo flew backwards, straight into Kiba, knocking them both to the ground!

"Kiba! Cairo!"

I ran straight to my two Pokemon. Kiba had been totally knocked out from the force of both Gardevoir's Psychic and the collision with Cairo. He was unconscious. There was no way he could fight anymore. It was with a heavy heart I had to recall him, leaving me with only Cairo. And I wasn't even sure if _he _was capable of battling after that…

But then, Cairo's eyes opened again and he gave me a dazed look. "Tra…?"

"Cairo!" I gasped as miraculously, my little Trapinch got to his feet.

"Trap! Pinch! Pinch!" he squeaked, looking none the worse for wear after the attack.

"Can you still battle, Cairo?" I asked him urgently.

"P…pinch…" he shuddered, looking at the imposing figures of Typhlosion and Gardevoir facing him, looming over us like two giants.

"Please, Trapinch!" I begged him. "You have to! I need you!"

Cairo looked at me once more and then let out a little sigh. Then a little flash of determination appeared in his eyes. "Pinch! Pinch!

"All right!" I cheered happily and with enormous relief as Cairo faced the Typhlosion and the Gardevoir. "Come on, you can do this, Cairo!"

But even as I said it, I wasn't even sure myself. My little Cairo, my most inexperienced Pokemon against what was practically an army to him? My odds were not good. But I couldn't just stand here and let Jack and this Nathan win! I had to do something! I had to battle with Cairo! And just pray he could pull this off…

"All right Cairo, let's start with Faint Attack!"

"Dodge that now!"

Cairo's attack missed completely as Typhlosion and Gardevoir effortlessly evaded it! I cursed as they dodged out of the way, but the worse was yet to come! At Jack's command, a wicked blast of fire came streaming towards Cairo, engulfing his tiny body with powerful flames!

"Cairo!" I screeched.

After that one attack, it was like opening the floodgates. Jack's Pokemon were merciless. Barrage after barrage of flames scorched Cairo, followed by wave after wave of psychic energy. My poor Cairo was being buffeted by attack after attack and I could do nothing to stop it! I hated that! "Cairo, please! Hang in there!" I begged.

"Tra…pinch…" he responded weakly when there was a momentary break in the attacks. He was dazed, completely incapable of moving, squashing any hope of a chance to dodge.

"Please!" I turned to Jack, realising just what this was doing to my poor Trapinch. I wasn't above begging or grovelling anymore! My Cairo was getting killed out there! "Please stop this! You'll kill my Trapinch!"

But Jack responded only with a peal of maniacal laughter.

Eventually the attacks stopped under Jack's orders. Fresh tears were running down my face as the Gardevoir and Typhlosion eventually stopped their assault, leaving my poor Cairo lying face down on the ground, burned, scorched and bleeding. I took off at a run towards him, gathering him up in my arms. "Cairo! Cairo!"

But he was barely conscious. His eyes were squeezed tightly shut and his breathing was short and shallow, coming in bursts. Exactly like Alakazam. Before he… before he…

"Cairo, please!" I begged. "Please don't die like Alakazam! Please!"

"_Oh God this is all my fault! I didn't even _want _Cairo in the first place! He chose to come with me! And I… and I could barely even be bothered with him because he was a little bit afraid of battling and wasn't strong straight away! God, if only I had been a little more patient with him this might not have happened! I couldn't stand it if I lost Cairo too!"_

"Please Cairo…please…" I was sobbing now, clutching the little ant Pokemon close to me. "Please don't die…"

"Enough snivelling," I heard Nathan's cruel voice above me. "You better just accept that this is what happens when you meddle too much! Now, come along! You're coming with me!"

Nathan grabbed me roughly around the upper arm, yanking me to my feet. I screamed in protest as Cairo fell to the ground as I was pulled up. I could vaguely hear Elliot screaming "Hey! Leave her alone!", but I didn't care. All I cared about was my Pokemon!

"Cairo!" I turned my face to Nathan. "Please! Let me take my Pokemon! Or else he'll die!"

"Well perhaps you should have trained him better!" Nathan spat. "Besides, if the Pokemon is weak it doesn't even _deserve _to live!"

"No! No you're wrong!" I protested at once. "All Pokemon deserve to—"

"Shut up!"

Red hot pain flashed across my cheek! Nathan had slapped me straight in the face! I reeled backwards, my cheek burning and his cold gaze met mine, staring me out. "That's enough out of you," he said stonily. "Now, come on." He gave me a forceful tug, making me stumble forward a few paces. "Time to dispose of you properly…"

A shot of fear reverberated through me. "_Dispose of me?_"

Then seconds later I was being dragged forward. Even though I struggled valiantly, I couldn't break free from him this time! "Please! Please let me go!"

"Pinch!"

All of a sudden, the Pokemon Centre was engulfed with a brilliant white light. I whipped around and saw my Trapinch get to its feet, white glowing light covering it all over like a veil. I could barely believe what was happening! Cairo was evolving!

I watched in wonder as my little Trapinch's body lengthened and became skinnier; wings began forming on his back and a long tail began to form. What appeared from the white light was a Pokemon that looked like a dragonfly with a skinny yellow body and green wings. It began to flap its green wings and lifted into the air, flying high above our heads. I gawped in amazement at Cairo's new form as he opened his mouth and let out a cry.

"Vi—braaa—a!"

"A Vibrava?" I gasped in shock.

"What the hell…?" I heard Jack say in astonishment. "That thing should be dead by all rights!"

"Pfft," Nathan scoffed. "No matter. It can't be _that _strong. Jack, shoot that little gnat out of the air and let's get on with it."

"My pleasure," Jack cackled. "Let's go Typhlosion. Use Flamethrower!"

"Oh God! Cairo, get out of the way!" I scremed.

"Vibrava!"

Looking like it wasn't even an effort for him; Vibrava easily dodged the torrent of flame that sped towards him!

"Yes!" I cheered at Cairo's effortless . "Cairo, use Faint Attack!"

Cairo's increased speed was so incredible that he was able to easily pull off the Faint Attack, dealing a great deal of damage to the Gardevoir. But Jack wasn't easily deterred, and his Typhlosion and Gardevoir responded with their own attacks. They sent such a bombardment of attacks, one after another, that it was all Vibrava could do to dodge, let alone send any of its own attacks. I watched, getting more and more frustrated and concerned over Cairo! If even one of those attacks hit, he would be a goner and my hopes of escaping and stopping my dad would be dashed!

And then a blast of flame hit him! I let out a screech as the flames burned his tiny, delicate body! But, strangely enough, the flames did not seem to harm Cairo! If nothing else, it just seemed to make him mad! He let out a screech and drew backwards, opening his mouth wide. A giant ball of green and yellow energy began to form at the back of his throat. I just stood there, open mouthed. What was this? I had never seen this before!

"That's Dragonbreath!" I heard Elliot screech! "Get out of the way!"

I took advantage of the momentary shock that had overwhelmed Jack and Nathan to wrench myself free from Nathan's vice-like grip. I dove to the ground, my arms over my head as a blast of energy crackled across the Pokemon Centre floor. There was a massive crash and then the light faded a few seconds later. As soon as everything settled, I leapt to my feet to survey the grounds.

"Oh my God…"

Nathan and Jack lay motionless at the end of the Pokemon Centre. Their Pokemon were scorched, bruised, bloody and very unconscious next to them. The Empoleon took fright at the sight of its trainer lying knocked out and let go of Elliot, shrieking. As soon as he was freed, Elliot took off at a run towards me. Good thing too, as the Empoleon was an easy target for another Dragonbreath from Vibrava and was swiftly dealt with.

"Sienna?" Elliot gasped in surprise once the Empoleon hit the ground, completely unconscious "What just happened…?"

"It doesn't matter!" I said urgently. "We just need to get out, now!"

"Wait, what about those men? Are they—?"

"They're unconscious, for now!" I wished Elliot would quit asking questions and realise that we had to get away! "But they won't stay that way for long! We need to get out!"

"Right! Just hold on a minute!"

Before I could stop him, Elliot had taken off at a run and in a move that wouldn't have looked out of place in a gymnastics show, vaulted over the counter of the Pokemon centre. He then disappeared underneath it, and I heard the noises of rattling and clanging, like bottles being hit off each other.

"Elliot!" I hissed at him, casting a worried glance at the still unconscious Jack and Nathan. "What the hell are you doing?"

Elliot emerged a moment later, his arms full of bottles and containers of varying shapes, sizes and colours. I blinked in surprise as he clambered over the counter again and jogged up to me. "Here, take some of these!"

I took a couple of them obediently, holding the bottles out at arms length to investigate them further. "What are these…?"

"Potions and Revives," Elliot told me matter-of-factly. "We're not gonna have a hope in hell of escaping here in one piece unless we revive our Pokemon."

"Oh…" I couldn't really say anything else apart from "That's a good idea!"

"Well, hurry up! Recall Cairo and let's get out of here!"

"Oh, um right!"

Quickly, I recalled my new Vibrava and followed Elliot outside. But instead of stopping immediately outside the Pokemon Centre like I had anticipated, Elliot kept on running until we had cleared almost half the length of the town and were ducked behind the shelter of one of the many houses.

"Quickly, heal your Pokemon!" Elliot instructed me, releasing his own team and spraying them with the Revives, then once they had woken up, the Potions.

But faced with this task, a sense of helplessness overwhelmed me and I could do nothing. Instead, looking at the Potions and Revives in my hands made me think of Alakazam. Tears began forming in the corners of my eyes again. If I could heal my own Pokemon so easily with all these potions… why couldn't I do that for Alakazam…? When it had come down to it, why couldn't I have helped him? Then he would be alive right now…

The guilt clawed at me incessantly and I bowed my face to the ground, struggling to keep the tears at bay.

"Sienna?" I heard Elliot's agitated voice near me. "What are you waiting for?"

"I…I…" I stuttered, the tears spilling over my face. I collapsed to the ground

"Sienna…?" Elliot's voice softened. "Are you okay?"

"Ala…Alakazam!" I burst out. "He's dead! I let him die!"

"Sienna…" Elliot looked me direct in the eye. "What happened to Alakazam… that wasn't your fault… He gave his life to save us…"

"He died because of us, then!"

"Sienna…" Elliot's voice was so calm that even though I wanted nothing more than to burst into tears, I couldn't help but listen to it. "Alakazam gave his life so that we could get away. We can't stay here like sitting Psyducks and get caught! Then he would have given his life for nothing. We need to get away and stop your dad from getting Groudon! That's the best way to honour his memory right now, not sitting here getting upset!"

I couldn't say anything.

"Okay…?" Elliot asked me, prompting me to speak.

I eventually managed to nod. "O…okay…"

"Good." He said, getting to his feet again. "Now heal your Pokemon. Hurry. We need to get to Mt Chimney now, before time runs out."

"But how are we gonna get there?" I asked him, whilst doing as he said and administering the spray medicine and reviving my Pokemon. "Groudon sealed off all the entrances to the insides! We'd never be able to get there on foot!"

"Don't worry, we're not getting there on foot," A slight hint of a smile appeared on Elliot's once panic-stricken face, as he indicated the giant Tropius that stood stoically beside him. "You're turning into a right little frequent flyer, aren't you, greenhorn? Now come on, let's hurry. We've got a job to do."

I smiled. "Yeah. We do."

And I was determined now more than ever I was going to succeed.

* * *

**I am so sorry for the long period of inactivity on my site! :( Unfortunately my laptop took a bath in vodka after a particularly boozy night had by my flatmates and I had to take it in for repairs. Then there was all the essays and coursework for uni and my exams start next month, so... All I can say is that I'm sorry! I go home a month today so updates will perk up then. **

**I can't really say much more tonight as I have to be up for a nine o'clock English seminar but I hope this update isn't too much of a disappointment. **

**Thank you all to those who had reviewed. I will get back to answering every review next chapter. But for now, can I just thank: Crystal.77, chaison, ampheeee, an awkward boner, The Warrior of Many Faces, , Sniper Mudkip, ArchxDeath, eeveelutionluvr, WOWfan123, something dictionary related; dark lady pegasusm, splashstorm, WildCroconaw, TheSpanishInquisition97, steel-alchemist, Ereneviana, Cerulean City, SonOfHades96, ParamoreDecoy and everyone else for all your kind words and encouragement! **

**Thank you all for your patience and continued dedication!**


	49. Confusion

The wind was whistling through my hair as Elliot and I soared above Lavaridge Town, heading directly for Mt Chimney. I tightened my grip around his waist as we got closer and closer to the looming mountain where I knew my dad was hiding out, just waiting to capture Groudon… Agitation and nervousness were dancing through my veins, making it incredibly difficult to stay still. I fidgeted incessantly on the back of Elliot's Tropius, making the giant Pokemon roar in annoyance every now and again, but I couldn't stop myself. I knew what was facing me in there. And it was scaring me more than I cared to admit. My dad already had Kyogre; I had accepted that I had failed in that respect, but I couldn't let him get Groudon too! Alakazam had told me that the world would never be the same if Groudon fell to my dad's hands and I couldn't let that happen! Alakazam had died for this cause… and I couldn't let him die for nothing.

We were getting ever closer to our goal and I was shocked to see that Mt Chimney looked exactly the same as it had when I had left there all those months ago. The earth had been raised and split, built up to make rocky, craggy cliff faces, almost impossible to climb on foot. But thankfully, we had Tropius and it was easy to simply soar above the difficult paths, heading straight for the only entrance to Mt Chimney that we knew.

"Oh my God, look!" something suddenly became terrifyingly apparent to me and I had to point it out to Elliot. "The entrance to Mt Chimney! It's been reopened!"

"Oh my God… the bastards…" Elliot breathed out in shock.

The entrance to Mt Chimney that Groudon had sealed up itself had been blasted straight through, reopening the inner chambers of the hideout inside. Even from a distance, it was clear what they had done. I couldn't believe it. It had already started!

"Come on, Tropius! Let's hurry!" Elliot ordered.

With that, Elliot's Tropius picked up speed and seconds later, we had begun a rapid descent. We were in the air for only a few more minutes before we touched down onto the rocky ground again. After jumping down, Elliot recalled his Tropius and immediately began investigating the newly opened entrance.

"This has been opened recently," Elliot mused, investigating the ragged, burned edges of the entrance. "Looks like it's been blasted open…"

"So…" I said in a low, hushed voice. "They must be in there now…"

Elliot nodded, letting out a long breath. "Looks like it."

Fear shot through me and I glanced upwards towards the peak of the volcano. Everything still seemed so quiet and so peaceful. Like nothing could be wrong with the world. But my heart still beat hard against my chest as I looked up at this stoic, passionless mountain. I knew that Groudon was waiting in there, somewhere… And I knew my dad and all his followers were right there too, their sights set on the legendary Pokemon. My hands clenched into fists. "Then we should go straight in there!" I burst out. "We need to stop them as soon as possible! We should—"

"Hold it right there!"

A harsh voice sounded from behind me, startling me. I heard Elliot swear and we both turned around. "Oh God, not again!" Elliot cried out in exasperation.

We were faced with three trainers all in the telltale black uniform. Three giant burly men, none of them wearing masks so we could see their ugly, red faces, stood in front of us, brandishing Pokeballs.

"Well, well, well…" the one in the middle smirked. "This is a very exciting catch to fall right into our net… the daughter of Cal Volbeda _and _the brother of Lance… seems like you two just simply _won't _go down!"

"Yes, we commend you on your impeccable survival skills," the one of the left cackled. "It's not everyone that can withstand an attack made by a Legendary Pokemon and live to tell the tale!"

"Even more commendable that you knew exactly where to find us," the third interjected, folding his muscular arms.

"But it ends now, you little runts!" the first man's voice took on a dangerous, threatening edge. "We're not gonna let you interfere again!"

"Oh my God…" I murmured worriedly.

"Hah, please!" Elliot scoffed, suddenly sounding brave and confident. "You seriously think you can take the two of us? And win?"

"It's not even about winning…" the first man had a wicked smirk on his face as he spoke. "All we have to do is keep you away long enough to let Cal summon Groudon and then, he'll be unstoppable!"

As those words left the man's lips, Elliot grabbed me and started pushing me towards the cave entrance. "Run, Sienna! I'll keep these guys busy if you just run in there and—"

"I don't think so! Go, Skuntank!"

Before I knew it, a Pokeball was sailing above my head! It burst open, revealing a giant purple Pokemon shaped like a skunk! The Pokemon totally blocked the entrance of the cave and I juddered to a halt as this Pokemon reared up on its back legs, roaring, and a horrible, noxious smell began choking its way down my nose and throat. I had to clamp my hand over my noise and mouth as the horrible smell made me feel like I wanted to retch!

"You're not getting in there!" the second man yelled, throwing his own Pokeball. "Go, Honchkrow!"

"And I'll choose Zangoose!" the third man chipped in, hurling a Pokeball.

Both Elliot and I had to leap to the side as the giant bird Pokemon and the mongoose Pokemon burst out from their Pokeballs. Elliot and I backed away as the three Pokemon started advancing on us.

"What a pain!" Elliot cursed. "It's not even about them winning! If they just can keep us away… then they can summon Groudon without worrying!"

Even as Elliot said that, there was a massive explosion! I let out a screech and grabbed onto Elliot as the force from the explosion rippled through the ground. Something blasted straight through the thick rock of Mt Chimney, scattering massive boulders and debris all across the ground!

"Sienna!" Elliot turned a panicked face to me. "We need to stop these guys now! That could be them trying to blast their way to Groudon right now!"

"I know, Elliot, I know!" I cried. "But what can we…?"

"Just get ready to battle!" Elliot told me, swiftly unhooking two Pokeballs from his belt, his eyes firmly fixed on the Pokemon blocking the entrance to Mt Chimney. "We need to get past them! One way or another! Now come on out, Jet and Tropius!"

With a flash of brilliant white light, Elliot released his Pokemon. I had to admit, the small lithe body of Jet the Umbreon alongside the massive girth of the Tropius looked intimidating. And that was with me knowing just how strong these Pokemon were.

"Umbree!" Jet called as soon as he was released, and Tropius let out a bone-chilling roar at the sight of the three enemy Pokemon.

"Sienna!" Elliot summoned me, snapping me back into reality. "Release a Pokemon, now!"

"Right! Go, Meloi!"

As my Ampharos took her place alongside Jet and the Tropius, I felt a sense of panic invade my body again. This was never ending! So many trainers to fight, so many Pokemon to battle, it felt like it was never going to change! But I couldn't give up now! I was so close now! I had to stop the Groudon from being captured.

I looked at Elliot, but he didn't return the gaze. He was fixated firmly on the task at hand, looking the Honchkrow, Zangoose and Skuntank up and down. He didn't look nervous, but focused, determined, I would say even confident. I knew this was Elliot's battle face. He was completely centred on this goal now. I felt a strange rush of emotions, realising that this was the first time I was going to be battling alongside Elliot. I couldn't lose now, not with Elliot backing me up, could I? He was just simply too strong a trainer! We had this… didn't we?

"Zangoose, use X-Scissor!"

"Skuntank! Use Poison Gas!"

"Honchkrow, Pursuit!"

I cursed inwardly to myself as soon as the three Pokemon were ordered into battle. They sprang into action so quickly I had no time to react! Elliot on the other hand held no such hesitations and threw himself straight into battle.

"Jet, quickly, use Confuse Ray! And Tropius, use Magical Leaf!"

I watched in awe as Jet emitted a strange, pulsing wave of energy that floated sinisterly towards the enemy Pokemon, eventually wafting over the Zangoose, stopping it dead in its tracks. A vacant, confused look appeared over its face, and it turned around and swiftly delivered the X-Scissor attack to the Honchkrow by its side! Meanwhile, Tropius's Magical Leaf attack swept towards the three Pokemon, the sharpened, pointed edges of the brightly coloured leaves slicing their bodies, making them howl in pain.

"Snap out of it!" the black uniformed men screamed at their Pokemon. "Attack, now!"

"Sienna, don't just stand there!" Elliot turned to me suddenly, whilst Jet and Tropius readied themselves for the next part of the battle. "Do something!"

I came crashing back into my senses almost immediately. What on earth was I doing, just standing there letting Elliot fight my battles for me! I had trained for months, _months_, just waiting for this opportunity! It had been bad enough I had failed… failed to stop my dad from capturing Kyogre… I couldn't let him capture Groudon too! But, if I just stood here doing nothing, that's exactly what _would _happen!

"Meloi, use Thundershock on that Honchkrow, now!"

As the giant black bird swooped straight in towards Elliot's Tropius, ready to inflict a powerful Wing Attack, Meloi sprang into action, sending a beam of electrical energy speeding towards the Honchkrow! It was a direct hit! The electricity coursed through the bird's body, sending it plummeting to the ground, smoking slightly. It couldn't battle! Even better, as its trainer ran up to it, the electrical charge still present in the Honchkrow's body shocked the trainer, leaving him paralysed!

"Yes! Well done, Meloi!"

"Amph! Amph!" she cheered happily.

"Now, let's help Elliot out! Use Thunderpunch on that Skuntank!"

Meloi bounded straight into the field of battle, injecting herself straight between a battling Skuntank and Jet. As Jet neatly dodged an incoming Toxic attack, Meloi grabbed her opportunity and delivered a powerful punch, fuelled with electrical energy straight into the massive girth of the Skuntank. But it barely seemed to have any effect on the giant, heavy brute of a Pokemon! I shot Elliot a panicked look, but he seemed too interested in giving orders to Tropius, who was locked in battle with the Zangoose!

"Skuntank! Use Flamethrower on those little pests!"

Well, I certainly hadn't expected _that_ and as the white hot flames burst from the Skuntank's mouth, it was all I could do to give the order to dodge! Mercifully, both Meloi and Jet were able to agilely dodge the incoming flames and jump to safety.

I had to think quickly! That Skuntank had an impressive defence and I had to break through that if I had any chance of taking it down! I needed a move stronger than both Thundershock _and _Thunderpunch! But what!

But even as I was thinking what on earth I was going to do, a massive explosion blasted from deep inside Mt Chimney! I screamed as without warning, the ground began shaking and small rocks were dislodged from the bulky form of the volcano, tumbling down and breaking apart as they collided with the ledges! A thin haze of smoke was beginning to casually drift from the mouth of the volcano, blotting the otherwise flawless afternoon sky. The sight of it made frantic panic rise up in my body, my heart thudding painfully against my chest, feeling like someone had it in a vice. What was going on in there!

Then I saw a triumphant smile break out over one of the black uniformed men's ugly faces. Just seeing that, I knew. I knew that the attack on Groudon had started! It had started, and I was standing out here idly battling with a couple of grunts! I had to get away and stop it, before Groudon fell too!

"Elliot!" I hollered across to him. "We need to get in there _now_! The attack's already started!"

He could no nothing but nod determinedly at me, before engaging back in the battle between his Tropius and the troublesome Zangoose. I turned back to the gigantic Skuntank and gritted my teeth. "Come on Meloi! Use a Thundershock, and put everything you've got into it!"

"Amph! Amph!"

Whilst Meloi started gathering electrical energy to blast at the Skuntank, Jet darted around the massive Pokemon using his Agility, before executing an impossible fast Quick Attack, momentarily winding it. Rooted to the spot, there was no way it could avoid Meloi's Thundershock! The blast of electricity hit the giant Pokemon straight on, frazzling its massive body! _But _it still wasn't enough! Even though it was dazed and confused, the giant Pokemon was still standing! Well, wobbling is probably a better word, I guess. It was down, but it wasn't out yet! I had to take it out with one more attack!

I looked down at Jet and Meloi. I felt a little strange, issuing an order to a Pokemon that wasn't even mine, but I just hoped it would work! "Guys! I need you to do a double Tackle attack on that Skuntank!"

"Amph!"

"Umbree!"

Miraculously, both Meloi _and _Jet obeyed me! The two of them broke into powerful runs, pushing their bodies, heading straight for the dazed Skuntank! Seconds later, they slammed straight into the massive Pokemon's flank, sending it crashing into its own trainer, knocking them both to the ground! Also, seconds later, Elliot's Tropius used a vicious Stomp attack to knock out the Zangoose for good and sending its trainer sprawling on his backside. Before I could even react, Elliot had swiftly recalled both Tropius and Jet to their Pokeballs and it wasn't until Jet disappeared from near to me that I realised what had just happened! We had beaten them!

"Sienna!" I heard Elliot say from near me.

"I know, I know!" I snapped back into my senses, returning Meloi to the safety of her Pokeball and securing the ball to my belt. I cast one last look at the black uniformed trainers lying on the ground, completely incapable of getting up, before fixing my sights at the entrance to Mt Chimney. My dad, and Groudon, were both waiting for me in there! I couldn't afford to waste time! "Elliot, let's run! Come on! We need to stop them now!"

We took off at a frenzied run, panic pushing my fatigued body forward! However, it was hard and gruelling. The corridors inside the depths of Mt Chimney were just the same as they had been all those months ago. Dark, with almost no natural light, and uncomfortably humid, with a thick putrid smell hanging dense in the air. We ran through the interlocking corridors, not even sure where we were going. I just ran, taking corridors and forks at random. I had no idea where I was going, but I didn't care! I had to keep running! However, as we were running, there came another massive blast from inside the belly of the volcano. We both juddered to a halt, screaming, as the explosion ripped through the corridors and floors, scattering thick rocks across our path! Once the explosion settled, and things were calm once more, Elliot and I looked at each other. We didn't even have to say anything. Somehow, he just knew what I was thinking, and we simultaneously began running in the direction of the explosion.

"Come on, come on, keep running!" Elliot yelled as we sped along the corridors. We were running uphill, ascending stairs now. My legs burned with the effort of every step, but I couldn't stop! At the end of this upward ascent, I could see light! I had to keep going!

We eventually emerged in a giant cavern. As soon as I set foot inside, a blast of heat swamped me, making me recoil backwards. I had to squint to see anything as the air was thick with smoke. It cleared after a few moments and my eyes were fixed immediately on a giant pool of lava directly in the centre of this cavern. Artificial light lit up what would normally be an inky black cave, casting a low light on everything. I was able to see that the place was swarming with more men in black uniforms and their Pokemon, running around carrying heavy equipment. I whipped my head left and right, scanning the ranks for the person I _knew _was here.

And then I saw him.

Knelt down, right by the side of the lava, his black mask stripped away revealing his face for all to see, there he was. A tremble ran through my entire body. I took a few determined steps forward, and then before I knew it, I was running. Running straight at him. "YOU!" I bellowed, as I came with close distance of him.

He stopped dead in his tracks, and then slowly got to his feet and turned around to face me. The expression on his face was odd… at first, he looked almost… relieved… then a flash of what anyone could have said was sadness… then, moments later a look of fury burst onto his face. "Sienna!" he shouted, my skin crawling at the sound of him speaking my name. "What are you _doing _here!"

"Stopping you, obviously!"

"God, you are _just _like your mother! This doesn't _involve _you!"

"How can it not?" I screamed. "You're trying to capture legendary Pokemon! I can't let you do this! Do you not realise how much you doing this is gonna affect the world!"

"You silly little girl! You don't understand!"

"Wh… what's not to understand?" I hung my head in exasperation and shame. "You're… you're trying to take over the world! Like some glorified comic book villain! I…" I rose my head to catch his gaze. "I… I can't let you do that."

For a moment, his face almost softened. I found myself quiet, my heart thudding, watching the peculiar look on his face. "Sienna…" his voice was quiet, with no malice or anger behind it. "I'm… I'm sorry…"

I stopped, completely in shock. "What…? What did you…say?""

Then suddenly, that softness was gone and he was yelling. "Everyone! Intruders! Stop them! Stop them now! They must not be allowed to interfere any further!"

"Wha…? No! No, wait!" I started to scream in protest as all of a sudden a swamp of trainers suddenly had me surrounded. I heard someone shout my name and saw Elliot pushing through the mob, trying to get close to me. Then with a barrage of flashing lights, Pokemon starting bursting out of Pokeballs all around us! They were all snarling and roaring, and their trainers were standing alongside them, wicked, menacing smirks upon their faces. Panic set in as they began to advance on us further, then with an almighty surge, I was surrounded!

"Elliot!" I couldn't help but scream as we were separated in the scrum! I heard him call my name, but it was useless! I was penned in by all these trainers and Pokemon, all looking like they were hungry for my blood! Panic rooted me to the spot and I found I could do nothing! However, seconds later, I heard the noises of Pokeballs opening and craning my neck upwards, saw all six of Elliot's prize Pokemon released! With fearsome cries, they launched themselves into battle, fighting ferociously against the onslaught of enemy Pokemon and trainers. Wondering what on earth had made me wait this long, I scrabbled for my own Pokeballs and threw them all, not caring where they landed. "Guys! Please help me!"

It was chaos. My Pokemon managed to surround me, making a protective shield, shooting attacks at anyone who tried to come near me, but it was by no means an easy task. Meloi and Aurora proved the toughest competition, easily knocking over foes from a distance with wild water and electric attacks, whilst Monty delivered sharp scratches and bites to anyone who managed to evade Aurora and Meloi. Cairo, Indigo and Kiba proved to be helpful too, shooting varying attacks in any direction they could!

But it wasn't enough! The Pokemon on the black uniformed men's teams were strong and so many in number that my own Pokemon were quickly overwhelmed. I watched in terror as the other Pokemon broke through my protective line and my own were subjected to attacks!

"Hang in there guys please!" I begged, as the swarm of Pokemon got closer and closer to me, my Pokemon barely able to keep them at bay now. The sounds of men yelling, the cries of Pokemon, the sounds of explosions and Pokemon moves rang in my ears and I could barely focus on anything going on around me. I cast a panicked glance towards Elliot who was in the same boat as me, trying to fend off all the Pokemon attacking him. But, his Pokemon seemed to be doing a much better job than me! Anything that came near him was blasted away within seconds! Me, on the other hand… even after all the training I had done, my Pokemon were still being overpowered.

"_Wow… I guess… I guess there's a much bigger difference between Elliot and I than I had thought…_" I wondered to myself, watching his Tropius and Roserade execute a double Magical Leaf attack that cut down another wave of Pokemon heading for him.

I whipped around to look behind me. My father was kneeling at the side of the bubbling lava pool, something that I couldn't quite make out nestled in his hands. Whatever it was, it was emanating a faint orange light. My heart leapt to my mouth. This was exactly like what he had done when he had summoned Kyogre! He had used an orb to summon it! Could it be… that he had another one to summon Groudon?

"No! No, stop!" I shouted, trying to break away from the scrum. But no sooner had I managed to get away I heard one of my Pokemon screaming in pain. I whipped around immediately and saw Indigo go flying through the air after a particularly nasty attack courtesy of a Magmar! I screamed as she came crashing to the ground next to me. "Indigo!"

She barely had the strength to get to her feet and as I attempted to help her, I saw Kiba get hit straight-on with a vicious Rock Throw from a Hippowdon! Kiba faltered on his feet, wobbled ominously and then collapsed to the ground, completely out of it. I let a cry of despair. With both Kiba and Indigo unable to battle, my line of defence was crumbling. Meloi, Aurora, Monty and Cairo simply couldn't just stand up to the onslaught of Pokemon closing in on us.

"Please guys! Hang in there!" I screamed, recalling Kiba and Indigo. I watched in horror as the interlocking slabs of colours that were the Pokemon belonging to the black uniformed trainers started slowly, but surely overwhelming my team! "Elliot!" I screamed. "I need help! Please!"

But Elliot didn't hear me. He was far too caught up in his own battles. All I could do was shout commands, begging my Pokemon to stay strong, but it was useless. Cairo fell next, and soon after that, Monty succumbed to the same fate. Only Aurora and Meloi were left, but there was no way they could stand up to all these Pokemon! Even worse, flashes of light were beginning to spring up from near to me, coming from the thing my dad was holding! I was torn! I couldn't just run to him and leave Meloi and Aurora at the mercy of those Pokemon! But then again I couldn't recall them either! The other Pokemon would turn on me and rip me to pieces before I could even turn around!

I felt like sinking to the ground. "_This… this is hopeless!_" I thought in despair, watching my dad cackling to himself as he began to lower whatever he was holding into the lava. "_I can't do this! Not by myself! Please! I just need help! I know Alakazam said I was the only one who could stop this… but I need help! Please! Someone! Just help me!_"

"Amph!" I heard Meloi screech as she was tackled by a vicious Take Down attack and got thrown through the air, landing only a few paces away from me. A moment later, before I could even act, Aurora was knocked backwards, also appearing only a few feet away. I looked at my only two remaining Pokemon… panting, out of breath and barely even able to stand. I then looked in fear at the swarm of enemy Pokemon, all roaring, snorting and baying, ready to jump straight at us! I heard someone give the order to attack and as the Pokemon leapt towards us, I let out a terrified scream.

"_I'm gonna die!_"

But then I heard two voices echo across the cave.

"Use Double Flamethrower!"

A blast of heat erupted across the cave and next thing I knew flames were dancing across my vision. The fire powered across the ranks of Pokemon in front of me, making them roar and screech as the red hot flames burned their bodies. I whipped my head up and caught sight of two Pokemon darting across the cave, spraying torrents and rings of fire everywhere they went! I squinted, desperately trying to figure out what they were!

The two Pokemon easily cleared away the remaining Pokemon still surrounding me with wicked fire attacks and sent their trainers running for the hills. Even Elliot stopped in amazement and took the opportunity when the other black uniformed trainers were shocked to mount a massive offence and clear away the other trainers.

I looked in shock at these two Pokemon that bounded past, their sights set on my Dad! I whipped around and the Pokemon finally came into the light! I let out a gasp of surprise as I laid eyes on a Ninetails and a Quilava!

And then I heard the voices of two people I thought I would never hear again.

"Now Dixie—!"

"Sulphur!"

"_It can't be!_"

* * *

**Author's Note**

**Well, this is my last update for at least the next month as exams start on the 14th! Eeeeek! :( Sad times. But! I shall be wholly committed to updating afterwards! I'm sorry for getting all your hopes up to just shoot them down again. **

**Yeah, I was kind of aware that I overpowered Cairo last chapter. Wasn't until I read it through that I realised I had done it. Heh heh. Guess watching too much of the Pokemon anime watching Ash's tiny little Pikachu, Squirtle and Bulbasaur take out huge massive powerful Pokemon with one hit kind of instilled too much anime physics in my brain! I'll probably go back and change it, but for now just assume his extra strength was just down to his determination to protect his trainer and his newly acquired strength from his evolution :)**

**TheSpanishInquisition97: Well, thank YOU for continuing to review :)**

**WildCroconaw: It almost killed me to kill off Alakazam even though I had it scripted for ages! Thank you for reviewing!**

**Splashstorm: Aww, your review made me so happy! I can't even think of how long it took you to write all those YAYs! Thank you so much :)**

**Chaison: Yep! I'm gonna try and be better with updates when uni finishes! Thank you :)**

**Killeralchemist747: Heh heh, as much as I am partial to some vodka and a nice party, I can assure you it wasn't me that bathed my laptop in vodka! :) Was a flatmate of mine! :) I'm not that wild, haha! :) Thank you for the review!**

**WOWfan123: Aww, thank you! I'm so happy you're enjoying the story! I haven't really scripted Kiba to evolve... maybe one day :) **

**ArchXDeath: Yes, OceanSpiral is back in the land of the living! Haha! Uni is hard, I'll admit, but I shouldn't have neglected everyone so long! I'm so sorry :( And I can't wait to catch up with Lost Names! :) Its a great fic that I missed during my absence! Thank you very much!**

**DarkLadyPegasus: Thank you very much! :)**

**SonOfHades96: Well I hope it doesn't disappoint! Thank you!**

**Sniper Mudkip: LOL at Justin Bieber fangirl reference! :) That actually made my night :) Aaaaah, I would never say Spirited is the "best story on the archive" , but thank you so much! I really don't deserve so many lovely, dedicated reviewers! **

**Please read and review if you can! Thank you all so much :)**

**OceanSpiral 3 3**


	50. Facing the Final Curtain Part I

I pivoted around on my heel, and my eyes touched on two figures running straight for me. Behind me I heard the cries of the Ninetails and Quilava and the frenzied, angered shouts and yells of my father as he attempted to chase them off. The black uniformed trainers were regrouping again, but I barely even cared. My eyes were firmly on the two familiar, figures that were heading in my direction! My heart thudded against my chest, my breathing coming in short quick gasps and disbelief washing over me, making me feel weak and shaky. This wasn't happening… was it? It really wasn't them… was it? Or had the stress finally made me go mad and I was just imagining this?

"Sienna!"

"Oh my God…" There was no mistaking it now. Those voices were as clear, recognisable and strong as the cry of a Pidgeot. It really _was _them after all! "J…Jasmine…?" I whispered, my voice cracking. "And… and Nikki?"

They were so close now that I could make out every detail and feature on their familiar, comforting faces. I wanted to cry just seeing them. Seeing them made all the emotions I had buried regarding them come flooding back. My sadness at having to leave them behind, the guilt I felt for doing so, the shame, the worry and the fear… everything reopened, making me feel raw. What had I been doing all this time… without them? How could I have been so stupid! How had I dealt with everything without my friends?

"Sienna!"

Seconds later, Nikki had collided with me. She wrapped her warm arms around me, squeezing me so tight I found it difficult to breathe. But I didn't care. I felt warm and safe, even considering the immediate danger we were all in. It was all I could do to hold onto her, feeling tears well up in my eyes. Her body was trembling and I had a strong suspicion she had burst into tears too. When she spoke, it was shaky, choked up and wavering dangerously with emotion. "Sienna! We…we looked everywhere for you!"

"I know, I know…" I murmured, feeling the guilt stab at me once again. "I'm so sorry…"

"Hey!"

Cutting through that comforting reunion came Jasmine's brash voice. I stopped, winced and reluctantly broke apart from a teary Nikki. I looked at her through bleary eyes. But far from the emotional wreck that was Nikki, Jasmine just had an abject look of anger spreading across her face, her arms tightly folded. I swallowed nervously. I would be lying if I said hadn't anticipated this. I mean, I had taken off all those months ago after we had almost been killed without even telling them what I was doing! I hadn't been in contact for almost five months now! Of course, I didn't _want _Jasmine to be angry with me, but I could completely understand if she was…

"Jasmine… I…" I faltered, completely unsure of what to say. What _could _I say? There were no mere words that could make up for what I had done. I bowed my head in shame. "I'm so… I'm so sorry…"

"Yeah, yeah!" she said haughtily, making me jump in surprise. "Listen, right now an apology is the last thing we need!" Before I could interject, so shocked I was at this revelation, she was powering on, cutting me off. "Listen, we know about everything! Misty and Flannery filled us in! What's important now is that we stop that whack job of a father of yours from getting his hands on that Groudon! So the last thing we need is for you to stand around here snivelling!"

"Oh Jazz…" I murmured, feeling close to tears. "Th… thank you…"

"Don't thank me either! Jeez! You're too sentimental for your own good!"

"I know… I'm sorry…" I said, wiping my eyes with the back of my hand. ""I just… I just can't believe you came all this way for me…"

"Course we did!" Nikki insisted. "You're our _friend _Sienna! That's what friends are for!"

Jasmine said nothing, but nodded her head firmly.

A warm rush of gratitude enveloped me. "Tha… thank you guys!" I said, and I truly meant every word.

Nikki smiled at me, but a determined look appeared on Jasmine's face and she balled her hands into fists. "Enough of this sentimental crap! Have you guys forgotten where we are?" she demanded, her voice loud as an Exploud. "We need to stop your dad!"

"Right!" Nikki cried. "I'm ready!"

Before I could say anything (I was still pretty bemused from the whole situation), I heard an alarming cry come from behind me! I whipped around immediately, as did Nikki and Jasmine, just in time to see my father's prized Golem send Sulphur and Dixie flying! Jasmine cursed loudly whilst Nikki squeaked in terror as the two Pokemon sailed through the air! Before Sulphur could make contact with the ground, Jasmine swiftly produced his Pokeball and recalled him, still airborne. Nikki on the other hand shouted a command to Dixie, who managed to turn her entire body in a graceful twist and land perfectly on her feet, letting out a thin stream of fire as she landed. The Golem, which had been rampaging towards us, took fright at the display of fire and stopped for a few seconds. I then saw her hand fly to her belt and she pulled out another Pokeball.

"Let's go!" She yelled, letting it fly.

What looked like a fat, rounded blue mouse Pokemon appeared from the Pokeball. It was like a Marill, but taller and wider There was no mistaking this as the evolved form of a Marill, an Azumarill! I found a wide grin spreading across my face. This was none other than Mizu! A new and improved Mizu, just like Sulphur and Dixie! Even better, she seemed stronger than ever before! I found myself gasping in awe at her power as she sent a powerful torrent of water in the Golem's direction, almost knocking the massive thing over! It seemed that I wasn't the _only _one who had been busy training and getting strong over the past couple of months! Jasmine and Nikki's Pokemon were so strong now too…

"Here Sienna! Take these!" Nikki's voice cut through my thoughts and suddenly I found my arms full of Potions. "Use these on your Pokemon while we keep that Golem busy!"

I blinked in surprise at the healing potions, but nodded. "Yeah! I will!"

I was vaguely aware of Jasmine and Nikki sending out their Pokemon into battle as I busied myself releasing my tired, injured and, in some cases, unconscious Pokemon. I forced myself to ignore what was going on around me, even though I itched to know who was battling, how they were getting on and most importantly, what _exactly _my father was doing! Instead, I made myself ignore it and focused on administering the Potions to my Pokemon. After all, I was powerless without them. Once they were all healed and happy, I heard someone else shouting my name. Looking up, I saw Elliot suddenly appear next to me! He was standing on his own, but when I looked past him, I saw all his Pokemon were keeping the black uniformed trainers back. "Sienna!" he cried, his eyes firmly fixed on Nikki and Jasmine. "These girls…who—"

"It's okay!" I babbled. "They…they're Nikki and Jasmine! M… my friends!" I explained hastily.

He looked at me in shock, his emerald eyes wide behind his smeared glasses. "These are your… friends! The ones Misty and Flannery were talking about?"

At the mention of their names, Nikki and Jasmine turned to look. Their jaws dropped when they caught sight of Elliot. As they caught eyes with him, a little smile spread across Elliot's face. "Well, I only wish we had met under better circumstances! But thank you for coming to help!"

"You're welcome!" Nikki cried, but Jasmine merely grunted in reply and tugged at Nikki in order to refocus her on the battle.

I cast a look back at my Pokemon, checking they were okay before I changed my focus completely. Looking straight past Nikki and Jasmine, locked in battle with my father's Golem, and ignoring the cascades of fighting Pokemon and trainers behind me, I shifted my attention to my father. My heart surged with panic when I could not see him straight away, but then after quickly scanning the area I spotted him! Terror engulfed me once again when I saw him with a brightly glowing orb, almost identical to the one he had used to summon Kyogre, but this one emanating a brilliant orange glow. He was slowly stroking it like one would stroke a prized Persian, and then he held it eagerly above his head. As he raised it up high, the lava began to bubble like it was responding to a signal from the orb, starting slowly and then became stronger, until it was like the bubbles in a boiling kettle. Even as I stood there, I noticed the temperature inside the cave was beginning to increase too, causing beads of sweat to quickly form on my forehead. I became aware of movement under my feet and I glanced down to see the earth shifting and cracking underneath me. The earth felt like it was pulsating, like it had a heartbeat and I knew exactly what was about to happen…

And I had to stop it.

I started to run! I didn't even care that Elliot was shouting after me! I didn't care if he was following me! The only thing I cared about was the fact my dad had already started to lower the glowing orange orb into the bubbling lava! This could only mean he was seconds away from summoning Groudon!

"No! No, stop!"

But it was too late. The second the glowing orb touched that lava, it began emanating a brilliant orange light! It was so bright it physically made me stop and throw my arms up to my face to shield my eyes. The light subsided as the glowing orb was fully absorbed beneath the bubbling lava. The lava began hissing and spitting, giant globs of it firing off in all directions. The ground beneath me was rumbling so hard I could barely stand up any longer! But I forced myself to keep running forward. But it was short-lived. Before I could get anywhere near him, the lava burst upwards like a geyser and I had to scream and duck to the ground!

Intense heat blasted across the cave and I screamed. I heard horrible, screeching roars echo across the cave as a massive, inky black shadow was cast across my vision, plunging everything into darkness. I jerked my head up and I was faced with the towering, imposing, intimidating figure of Groudon! Even though I had seen Groudon once before, it did not prepare me to see this ferocious beast so close! Last time it had been so far away that I almost hadn't believed what I was seeing. But there was no mistaking it now! I could practically count every tooth in the creature's giant jaw, every sharp pointed spike that protruded from its body and huge tail. I looked up at the creature's eyes and saw unmistakable, burning rage reflected in them. It threw its giant head back and began to roar, shaking the whole cave with a vicious earthquake. The earthquake was so strong it shook rocks straight from the roof of the cave! I staggered to my feet, screaming in fear.

As I backtracked, I collided with someone. I twisted around in fright and came face to face with a wide-eyed Elliot. He grasped me tight, whether it was from panic, fright or just trying to keep me away from the Groudon, I didn't know. "Oh, my God! Oh, my God! Oh, my God!" he repeated, over and over again, getting louder and louder with each exclamation.

But even above Elliot's frightened shouting, even above the incessant bellowing of the Groudon, there was one voice I just seemed to be completely tuned in to. My father's voice. My eyes were fixated on him, and I could hear him shouting out. "Groudon! You _will _be mine!"

He was clutching another one of those strange Pokeballs, an eager, almost hungry look in his crazed eyes. He was eyeing the Groudon, a maniacal smirk etched in what now seemed a permanent fixture on his face. The Groudon was facing forward… it could not have seen my father standing behind him…

"Meloi! Get here now!"

As Meloi immediately came to my side, I broke free from Elliot and started to sprint towards my father, Meloi following me obediently! Horrible, impending déjà vu stabbed at me with every step I took. "_It's going to happen again, isn't it? I'm going to fail again! Damn it! Why, damn it? Why?"_

I pushed myself harder than I ever thought I could. But there was so much distance between him and me… and my body screamed with protest with every step. Everything suddenly seemed to slow down and I could see every detail of what was happening around me so clearly. Too clearly. I saw the terrifying Groudon thrust its head back and roar, giant tremors shaking through the cave as it stomped its massive feet. I saw my father turn towards the Groudon, the Pokeball in his hands… I screamed a warning to the Groudon, but of course, it did not respond. I quickly screamed a command to Meloi to shock my father in the hope of stopping him, but as soon as Meloi stopped to ready the attack she was tackled by a Graveller, sending her flying!

I screamed with frustration, focused myself to keep running, craning my head as high as I could to look at the Groudon. Rage was painted on its face as it bellowed, slamming its tail into the ground, making rocks and boulders fall from the ground, making it almost impossible to stand, let alone run!

"Groudon! Groudon, move! Please!" I screeched.

But it was too late. With an almighty throw, the Pokeball my dad was holding was suddenly flying through the air, heading straight for the unsuspecting Groudon.

"No! No, please! Stop this now!"

And just, at that moment, I felt the Groudon's eyes meet mine. I almost stopped in my tracks as the rage reflected in those eyes melted away and was replaced with intense sorrow. The intensity of it sent resounding sadness resonating through my body, making my heart plummet with grief. At that moment, I felt some kind of strange connection with that Groudon and all I wanted to do was protect it!

But my efforts were futile…

Somehow alerted to the presence of my father behind it, the Groudon whipped around, trying to use its mammoth tail to bat away the incoming Pokeball. But it was useless. Whatever technology that Pokeball was made of, it was still able to withstand the force behind the Groudon's attack. Upon impact with the Pokeball, the Groudon disappeared from sight in a flash of red light into the Pokeball which then fell and hit the ground. It began shaking and trembling, trying to contain the legendary Pokemon. I could hear Elliot, Jasmine and Nikki screaming and the cries of my own Pokemon! Panic was taking over my body, fear and horror paralysing my limbs. I wanted to run, race forward, grab that Pokeball, break it open and release that poor Groudon… but my body remained rooted to the spot as I watched, waited, my heart in my mouth as the Pokeball shook. Fear and terrible, terrible anticipation roared in my head. I prayed to every God in existence that something would go wrong with the technology, that it would somehow break free!

The Pokeball dinged.

I could do nothing but scream. I let out a scream like a wild animal. I fell to the floor, pounded my fists straight into the ground and let out a roar of frustration. I yelled and screamed and bellowed until the back of my throat was raw, red and burning. "You monster!" I raised my head to scream, hot angry tears flowing down my face. "You… you monster!"

"You should have stayed out of this, Sienna!" he yelled, a triumphant edge to his voice, before turning to his counterparts. "Victory is ours once again! Now…let's get ready for the next prize!"

Terror gripped me. "You mean there's more?" I screamed. "You're not satisfied yet?"

"I will never be satisfied until every Legendary Pokemon in this world belongs to us!" He bellowed, cackling with laughter. "Now, blast open this cave! Rayquaza awaits!"

The name Rayquaza shot icy fear through me. In a flash, Alakazam's words came back to me.

"_Perhaps he hopes that gaining both Kyogre and Groudon will allow him to find the other Pokemon associated with the legend… This Pokemon is known by the name of Rayquaza_. _It holds powers that exceed even the capabilities of Kyogre and Groudon combined!"_

"You bastard! You absolute bastard!" I yelled, getting to my feet in my anger. Rage, fear, and crushing disappointment were coursing through me, electrifying me. "Can't you see what you're—?"

I couldn't finish my sentence. An almighty blast sudden ripped through the cave, sending me crashing to the ground again. Thick smoke was billowing inside, and massive chunks of rock were crashing to the ground, sending ripples of force underneath my body. I coughed and spluttered in the thick smoke, desperately trying to see. I could hear Elliot shouting on me, but I didn't allow myself to focus on it. As the rumbling subsided and the smoke cleared, I could see daylight streaming inside the cave. Gasping, I realised that a huge explosion had ripped apart the roof of the cavern!

"_What the hell is going on here?_"

As the carnage unfolded around me, as rocks crashed to the ground next to me, my anger left me. Forget being angry, now I felt overwhelmed with helplessness and crushing disappointment. I felt such a failure! My father had won now! He had Kyogre… now he had Groudon… and I was powerless to stop him! I found myself incapable of moving. My whole body was shaking; tears were still hot on my face and I just wanted to crumple to the ground and sob.

"Sienna!"

Three voices were shouting on me. Familiar voices. But I couldn't focus on them. I didn't _want _to focus on them. I felt numb, overwhelmed with grief, disappointment, guilt and failure. As I stood there flatly, Nikki, Jasmine and Elliot's faces darted in front of my vision, but I couldn't concentrate on them. It was like I was distant from the whole situation, completely and utterly detached from what was going on. I could only stand there, shocked and totally at a loss of what to do.

"Sienna! Sienna, please!" Elliot suddenly grabbed me forcefully by the arms. The force behind his grip sent pain through my arms, taking me back to reality. "What are you standing here for?"

"Sienna, please!" Nikki begged. "D… don't give up!"

"Yeah!" Jasmine pushed past Elliot to look me straight on in the face. "Where's the Sienna we knew, huh? Where's she gone? Look at yourself, Sienna! You came all this way… now you're just gonna throw in the towel?"

"it's hopeless!" I burst out bitterly. "He's got Groudon and Kyogre! I can't… I can't _do _anything anymore! I failed!"

"Sienna!" Elliot grabbed me again. "You can't let yourself down like this! Or us! Or Alakazam! Do you remember what Alakazam did? What he _died _for? You're telling me you're just going to let him die for nothing!"

I stopped. Elliot's words had struck a chord with me. Memories of the sacrifices everyone had undertaken … all the injustices that had come about from everything my father had done… everything Lance, Wallace, Misty, Flannery and everyone else had done to help us… and everything my mother had strived for… I couldn't give up now! I couldn't let anyone down anymore!

"En… enough!" I shouted, cutting Elliot off mid-sentence. My fire was burning again. What had I been doing, standing there feeling sorry for myself? I looked back towards my Pokemon, summoning them to my side. My father stood near to me, cackling, clutching the strange Pokeballs that held Kyogre and Groudon. My rage grew at the sheer sight of him. I knew the only way to stop him now was to get those Pokeballs away from him! I pushed straight past Elliot, Jasmine and Nikki, whipping my head back towards my team of Pokemon.

"Meloi!" I called her to action and she immediately put on her game face, running across to meet me. "Hit him," I indicated my father, my face marred with resolve. "…with a Thundershock attack, now!"

Without even hesitating at my motives, Meloi fired off a powerful electric shock straight at him. He was so absorbed in the Pokeballs he was holding he barely even noticed what was happening until it was too late. The electric shock hit him hard and he screamed in agony as the electricity sizzled through him, both Pokeballs inadvertently dropping to the ground and rolling away. I dove for them immediately, grasping them both in my fists. As my hands closed around the warm spheres, I wanted to jump up and down and scream with joy, but that joy was painfully short-lived. My father, recovering almost immediately from the electric shock yelled in rage and threw a Pokeball, revealing a giant, angry Onix. I froze in fear, almost dropping the precious Pokeballs in my fright. Panic grabbed me like a vice and I hollered for my friends as the Onix rumbled across the ground heading towards me! "Guys! I… I need help!"

"Yeah, so do we!" I heard Jasmine yelling back.

I twisted around and saw hundreds of black uniformed trainers advancing on Nikki, Jasmine, Elliot and the rest of my Pokemon. Elliot's Pokemon had swarmed to their master's side, weak and exhausted; obviously able to keep them back no longer. All of a sudden, the giant Onix lunged for me! I screamed and was only just able to get out of the way, as the huge Onix burrowed straight into the ground and disappeared! I started to scream, totally losing my cool, darting my head around, and trying to catch sight of any signs of where it would emerge from.

"Give me those Pokeballs, Sienna!" my father's voice was tinged with so much anger that it frightened me. I had heard him angry before… for any number of reasons. But there was something different about this anger… it scared me right to my core. "Give me them back, or you'll regret it!"

"No! I won't!" I screamed back, clutching them even closer to me, my fear betraying me. "I… I can't!"

"Fine! Then I'll show you no mercy! Onix, use Dig!"

Without warning, the Onix burst out from behind me! I screamed as debris rained down on me. I had no choice but to dive to the ground to protect myself as the Onix sailed past. I darted my head up just in time to see Meloi deliver a powerful thunder straight at the Onix, momentarily slowing it down. While I lay there, stunned, my father's face suddenly came into view above me. His hands grabbed my arms and hauled me upwards. His grip was strong, as strong as I could remember. I struggled to hold on to the Pokeballs as he attempted to prise my fingers off them. I started to scream again, as loud as I could, hoping to get attention from someone, _anyone _who was nearby.

All of a sudden, a blast of water powered straight into my father, sending him flying a good few feet back. I pivoted around and saw Aurora waddling up to me as fast as she could. My heart surged with relief, gratitude and pride! She was coming to help me! She had seen I was in trouble and came to rescue me!

With another powerful jet of water, she then easily dispatched the massive Onix, allowing Meloi to run up to me, baying worriedly. I petted them both on the head briefly, murmuring "good job" and cast a look back at Elliot, Jasmine and Nikki. They weren't doing well at all… their Pokemon couldn't hold up much longer!

My father lay a few feet away from me, soaked through to the bone, struggling to get to his feet. The Pokeballs containing Groudon and Kyogre were still clenched in my hands. This was my chance! Elliot, Jasmine and Nikki were keeping back the other trainers (somewhat), the Onix was knocked out, my father was still struggling to get to his feet… if I could somehow break the Pokeballs, I would release Kyogre and Groudon!

I brought both Pokeballs as high as I could above my head. I then smashed them down in the hard ground. I altogether anticipated them to break, but both Pokeballs merely bounced, making a dull sound, before rolling away.

"Damn!" I turned straight towards Meloi. "Meloi, electric shock those now!"

But not even Meloi's electric shocks would break them. I didn't have much chance to try anything else, as my dad had eventually managed to clamber to his feet. Meloi and Aurora immediately darted in front of me as protection, growling menacingly.

"It's no matter really…" my dad said, strangely calm. "I will still have Rayquaza… no matter what you do!"

"You can't get Rayquaza if I release Groudon and Kyogre!"

"You silly girl… of course I can…" my dad said, a smug smile adorning his face. "Legend tells that Rayquaza responds only when the world's balance is out of whack. Or in other words, when Groudon and Kyogre do not exist in harmony… That can mean many things… when they are injured… when they are warring… _or_…" a terrible glint appeared in his eye. "When they are in severe trouble… exactly like this…"

"No…" I whispered hoarsely.

"Yes…" he nodded. "And by now… it's too late… Rayquaza… heh…" he began to laugh. "Rayquaza is already _here_!"

"_Already here?_"

Suddenly, I noticed how dark the sky was getting. I looked up and saw ominous thunderclouds sweeping across the sky, blotting out the bright afternoon sun. A dense, heavy atmosphere had suddenly rolled in, weighing down hard, feeling like someone was pressing down hard on my shoulders. I mentally kicked myself. How had I not seen this before?

I found myself staring right into the depths of the sky. The clouds seemed to be moving so fast… Like they were swirling and twisting together, like the waves of a storm at sea. I was so transfixed; I felt my arms drop limply to my sides.

"_What's… what's happening? Is this… is this really Rayquaza? Please… please say it isn't…! Please! I… I can't let him get Rayquaza too! I've failed so much already… I've got to redeem myself! I have to stop this! Somehow! But please, say this isn't Rayquaza!"_

And then, far off in the distance of that swelling sky, I saw two tiny glints of light.

"Everyone!" my father was yelling, his voice instantly commanding the attention of everyone in the cave. "You are now about to witness history in the making!"

Cheers erupted all around me. I clenched the Pokeballs containing Groudon and Kyogre so hard that I thought my knuckles would burst straight out of my skin. Beside me, both Meloi and Aurora stiffened and began braying uncertainly. I looked behind me, and saw that everyone had come to a halt, Elliot, Jasmine, Nikki and our Pokemon as well. They were all transfixed on the sky. I swallowed and turned my attention back to those glowing balls of light.

They were growing larger, and I could feel a wind beginning to pick up. Suddenly, a clap of thunder shook the skies and thin streaks of lightning started crashing down in the distance. The glowing orbs were getting bigger and bigger and it wasn't until this horrifying roar that I had never heard before echoed across the cave that I realised something. The orbs weren't getting _bigger_. They were getting _closer_!

A lightning strike lit up the sky and cast thin streaks of light across the swirling black sky. I saw the huge, darkened silhouette of something coming straight for us. Whatever it was, it was gigantic. I couldn't make out its features, but I _could_ make out its shape. It was like a giant snake, impossibly big and with what looked like two sets of wings protruding from its serpentine body, two horn like structures at its head and long, spindly limbs.

I backed away. "No… Oh God, now… that's… that really is…!"

"Behold! The might of the legendary Pokemon Rayquaza!"

The sounds of Rayquaza's roars filled my ears as the giant Pokemon crashed into the cave. My eyes darted over this creature's giant green serpentine body as it drew itself up to its full height, letting out another deafening roar! I could barely believe what I was seeing here! This legendary Pokemon, right in front of me!

And my father was approaching it with another Pokeball…

* * *

**Author's Note**

**I'm baaaaaack! Haha! :)**

**I've been home from uni for a week and I've been writing since then! This chapter was hell. In fact, the whole next arc (which should be a three/four parter) is gonna be hell. This is it now. This is the end of the story. The proper end. Three or four more chapters plus an epilogue and I'm done with Spirited!**

**I hope this chapter is okay. I don't want the end to be a disappointment! I wish I was back writing all the training days chapters! Aaaah!**

**Don't have much time to thank everyone with little replies, but thanks to Zoeten, JessyBabe, Sniper Mudkip, eeveelutionluvr, SonOfHades96, DarkLadyPegasus, splashstorm, WOWfan123 and something dictionary related for their lovely reviews! I hope I didn't disappoint anyone!**

**Updates? I'm aiming for weekly or every five or six days, hopefully! I can't afford to screw up with this ending arc!**

**Please read and review if you can!**


	51. Facing the Final Curtain Part II

"Get away, Rayquaza!" I screamed. "You're walking straight into a trap! You'll get caught!"

I wasn't even sure if Rayquaza could understand me, or if what I said would make a difference, but I yelled a warning to the Legendary Pokemon even still. The Pokemon was for some reason transfixed on me, looking deep into my eyes, but almost like it was looking _through _me, straight into my soul. My hands holding the Pokeballs fell limply to my sides. There was something about that Pokemon… something about its eyes. I wanted to know so much what it was thinking!

Then all of a sudden it began to roar and thrash around, twisting its long green serpentine body. It propelled itself forward in a vicious lunge, like a snake attacking unsuspecting prey, letting out a vicious attack! Instinct took hold of me immediately and I dove to the side to get out of the way. Whipping my head up, my heart pounding, suddenly terrified! But no sooner had I hit the ground, the Rayquaza twisted its body around and shot another attack at me! I screamed and tried to run, but the massive rays of energy that Rayquaza was firing at me cut massive scars in the ground, chugging up the earth, almost like giant chasms! They were incredibly deep, almost like the height of a full grown man and at least three foot wide. There was no way I could cross that! Not without help from my Pokemon… and they were still nowhere to be seen! I was left with a patch of ground about ten foot long, completely cut off by deep trenches, with nowhere to run. Nowhere to run, with the Rayquaza staring me down.

"_Why… why is it targeting me all of a sudden?_"

It suddenly hit me. The two Pokeballs in my hands were the reasons! Did Rayquaza know I had them? Could it _sense _I had Groudon and Kyogre in my possession! Rayquaza was supposed to be able to calm Groudon and Kyogre when they were warring, so did having them in danger count as the same? Was Rayquaza attempting to restore harmony by rescuing Kyogre and Groudon from human possession? If it was, I was playing a dangerous game now. What was worse? Throwing away Groudon and Kyogre to protect myself, but risk _anyone _getting hold of them? Or keeping them safe but risk getting blown to pieces by Rayquaza's attack! Neither option seemed any good!

"Please, Rayquaza, listen to me!" With no option left to me, I desperately tried to appeal to the Rayquaza. What else could I do? Behind me, my friends and my Pokemon were preoccupied, my father was advancing hungrily on the Rayquaza and I was trapped with no way of escape! "I know I have Groudon and Kyogre right now! But I'm trying to protect them, I swear! I'm trying to protect them, just like you are! Believe me! You need to get out of here, or you're going to get captured like them too!"

But the Rayquaza didn't listen. It fired off another beam in retaliation. It was so massive and wide that I could not avoid it without throwing myself into the churned up trenches to avoid it. I fell at least five or six feet, terror pumping through my veins as the ground neared me. I hit the ground hard, the force ricocheting through me in painful waves. I was winded and in severe pain, but I had barely touched the ground when another blast hit the ground. This one only just missed me. I got to my feet, adrenaline was pumping, panic and fear surging as the Rayquaza began readying another attack…

"Amph!"

Dark shadows suddenly were soaring above my head. Wondering what the hell was going on I grabbed onto the top of the trench (with extreme difficulty) and lifted my head up as far as I could, just able to peek at what was happening. I gasped as I saw five Pokemon zigzagging across the ground, heading straight for the Rayquaza. My Pokemon! I could barely believe my eyes as a bolt of electricity slammed right into the Rayquaza! Beams of fire, ice, psychic energy, bolts of thunder and a nasty Dragonbreath encircled the Rayquaza, barraging it again and again. My heart swelled with gratitude. My Pokemon… they had thrown themselves into battle to protect me so readily… even against such an ominous and powerful foe!

Suddenly I felt something nudge into my back. In my fright, I let go of the wall, fell backwards and unceremoniously landed on my arse. Cursing, I turned around and saw Monty butting his head into me, meowing worriedly. Surprised at him being there, I patted his head and he purred, nuzzling into me, meowing. He then started headbutting my back, like he was encouraging me to get up, to get back to the action.

"All right, Monty. I get it." I smiled, getting to my feet obediently. However, there was a problem I still had to overcome.

The trench I was in was deep. Very deep in fact. The rays Rayquaza had cut into the trench had sliced so far into the earthy ground that they were over five feet deep! Considering I was only a few inches taller than five feet, it was going to be almost impossible to clamber out by myself. And I didn't have time to be stuck down in a hole whilst my dad terrorized Rayquaza, my Pokemon put themselves on the line for me, and my friends were left at the mercy of the black uniformed trainers! So, ignoring Monty easily scaling the five foot ledge with one jump, I stowed the Pokeballs containing Groudon and Kyogre as far down into my pocket as I could, slammed my hands on the edge of the ledge and attempted to pull myself up. But the earth I grabbed on to crumbled as soon as I put weight on it and I tumbled to the ground landing right on my backside. Again.

"Sienna!"

I looked up at the source of the voice to see Elliot staring down at me. "Elliot?" I said stupidly.

"Here, give me your hand!" he shouted, extending his hand towards me.

For a moment, I sat there a little stunned. The thought of taking Elliot's hand… having him pull me up… something about it made me feel all flushed and foolish. "I… I'll be too heavy! You can't pull me up!"

"Sienna!" he shouted again, reaching his hand down further. "Are you mental? Come on!"

Snapping myself back into my senses and wondering where on earth that nervousness had just come from, I forced myself up and grasped hold of Elliot's strong hand. Within two seconds, his other hand had grabbed me around my upper arm. All of a sudden, with a jerk, I felt my feet leave the ground and I was lifted straight up and pulled out of the trench. I stumbled as I scrabbled to find my feet again and collided with Elliot's warm body. Startled at the sudden close contact, I pushed myself away, but found I was still staring straight into his emerald eyes…

"H…hey…" I stammered, unsure of what to say. He was still holding my hands.

He blinked in surprise. ""Hey"? There's a giant Legendary Pokemon standing over there about to be captured by your father and that's all you can say?"

"Oh, hell!" I dropped his hands and turned around. I was actually shocked to see half of my Pokemon (Meloi, Aurora and Kiba) keeping Rayquaza at bay, whilst the other half (Indigo, Cairo and Monty) were in battle with my father's Machamp and attempting to keep him _away _from the Rayquaza.

However, seeing me free of the trench, my father started yelling again. "Forget about Pokemon! Restrain them however you can!"

I started to scream as burly black uniformed trainers came out of nowhere and grabbed us. I struggled against their grip, but he held me so tight I thought my arms would break if I tore myself away. Elliot proved to be a match, physically, for the black uniformed trainers, sinking a couple of strong punches to the oncoming men sending a few flailing, but to my horror, I had to watch as someone smacked him straight across the face then kneed him in the stomach, causing him to crumple to the ground! I heard the cry of a Steelix and saw Indigo, Cairo and Monty suddenly felled by a vicious Iron Tail, leaving my father free to get to Rayquaza!

"Meloi, Aurora, Kiba! Stop my dad! He's right behind y—"

I felt force collide with the back of my head and my whole body lurched forward. Pain exploded in the back of my head, making me feel dizzy from the blow. I tried to focus my vision, but it was blurred and smeary as I felt tears sting in the corners of my eyes.

Then from nowhere, I heard Jasmine and Nikki shouting.

"Blaze! Help Sienna's Pokemon!"

"You too, Terra and Heather!"

I heard similar _thwack_s and _thud_s and squeals of pain and I could only guess Nikki and Jasmine had suffered the same abuse I just had. But all of a sudden, I saw three Pokemon go bounding past. I made them out through blurry, teary eyes as a Charmeleon, Ivysaur and Sandslash! They were heading straight for my father who my Pokemon, still too preoccupied with Rayquaza, were still oblivious to! They crossed the scarred terrain like it was child's play, calling and baying, readying attacks to strike everything in their path down!

But with a roar, my father's Steelix rumbled past, completely cutting off their path! Slamming its huge body straight into them, it rampaged past, sending them flying, knocking them over like pins at a bowling alley. I looked across at my own Pokemon, just in time to see them all be bodily tackled to the ground by my father's Machamp! Screaming in frustration, I attempted to break free once more, but the man held fast!

I can not even tell you the rage I felt as I saw my third Legendary Pokemon fall victim to my father that day.

At first, I didn't even realise what was going on until it was too late. Far too late. I saw the Rayquaza disappear in a jolt of red light and I screamed in shock as its form disappeared into a Pokeball! It had come completely unexpected and the terror came in waves like I had never experienced before! My body was shaking so much. My breath came in short, sharp gasps. I felt on the verge of collapse… I could not believe what had just happened… what I had just _let _happen…

"At last…" I saw my father lean down to pick up the purple and black Pokeball as it stilled. "Rayquaza… Rayquaza is finally mine!"

I couldn't do anything. I couldn't even say anything. I just felt numb.

My father slowly began walking towards me. My Pokemon, weakened and tired could barely even push themselves to their feet, let alone even _hope _to make it to my side to help me! My heart was sore with sorrow. My Pokemon had done so much for me… fought valiantly by my side… protected me… jeopardized their very _lives _for my benefit! Even my friends… I craned my head around to see them. Jasmine and Nikki were being held upright, their heads lolling, almost unconscious, in the arms of black uniformed trainers. Their Pokemon lay in a similar state to mine… bloody, injured and defeated. I looked to my right and saw Elliot, still weakly and valiantly struggling against the man who had him restrained. He had a vicious welt on his face from the beating he had taken, speckled with blood and beginning to turn various shades of red and purple. His Pokemon were out of it too…

It was all so unfair! They had done so much for me… _everyone _had tried so hard for me, to support me, to help me stop what I was supposedly "destined" to stop. And I had let them down. All of them. I had failed once with Kyogre. And then, I had failed further with Groudon. And if that wasn't enough, I had failed once more with Rayquaza…

"_Why…?"_ I thought tearfully. "_Why… why can't I do this…? Damn… I'm so worthless… I can't stop this… I can't stop _him_! Why did Alakazam believe so seriously that I could…? This is… this is out of my depth completely…_"

"Now Sienna… no need to look so sad…"

I looked upwards to be faced with my father, looking down on me, smirking. "I told you it was a bad idea to interfere with all this…"

I said nothing.

"Just face it, there's nothing you can do anymore. These Pokemon belong to _me _now! All of them!" he cried, and all of a sudden, plunged his free hand into my hoodie pocket! I screamed and started to protest, but the man was holding me so tight I couldn't resist" My father merely laughed whilst he scrabbled around, his hands finally closing on the two Pokeballs I had stashed there.

He brought them out with a flourish, like a magician producing a rabbit, smiling wickedly. He fixed his eyes on me and grinned, an evil glint sparkling in them. "Check and mate, Sienna."

I let out a roar at his arrogance, thrashing around in my captor's grasp, suddenly desperate to break free. "I won't let you get away with this!"

"Too late," he smirked. "I already have…"

At that, he drew away from me, raising his head to the now flawless sky, laughing to himself. I struggled again uselessly. "_This… this is hopeless_!"

He turned around to face everyone again. As he began to speak, every single black uniformed trainer was hanging on his every word. I heard protests from Elliot, but then came a loud _thwack _and an indignant "Shut up, boy!" and he fell silent. I didn't even want to know what had just happened to him.

"My friends…" my father's voice was booming across the cave, the glee and triumph so evident as he spoke. "What we have bore witness to today… is nothing short of a great victory!"

Cheers erupted from the black uniformed trainers around me. I wanted to hang my head in shame and guilt.

"We have in our possession today, three of the most powerful legendary Pokemon in existence," he proudly held up the three strange Pokeballs, showing them off to incessant cheering and whooping from the men surrounding me. "For years, we've dreamed of this day… and after months of hard work and preparation, we have done it! With these Pokemon in our possession, the rest of the world will fall to its knees! One by one, the legendaries will fall to us… and we will take our rightful places as supreme rulers of the world!"

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. It sounded like the ravings of a villain from a kid's movie. Like the declarations of the idiotic, bumbling characters from the Saturday morning cartoons I despised. But this was real… this wasn't made up or acted. He actually _believed _this… he _intended _to make it happen…

"_He's mad…_" I thought, my mouth gaping open, helplessness and disbelief resurfacing in horrible, unmistakable waves. "_He really wants to use these Pokemon to t…t…take over the world? No… I can't let him… he'll… he'll cause so much devastation… he… he already has_…" I felt a pang of sadness as I thought about everything that had already happened… how many lives had already been drastically changed, or ruined, or even _lost _to this whole thing… "_He really is mad… and… and I don't think I can stop him now!_"

While he ranted and raved on, the black uniformed trainers hanging eagerly on every word that came out of his mouth, something caught my attention. There was a giant hole right at the end of the cave that opened out to the outside world. I hadn't noticed it before, but I assumed it must have been caused from the explosions or the rampages of either Groudon on Rayquaza. But the actual opening meant nothing. It was what I could see _beyond _the opening that intrigued me.

The skies were beginning to darken again.

"_Impossible… it's daytime, right? I'm sure it was… the sun was shining just five minutes ago after dad caught Rayquaza… So what on earth…?"_

I cast looks at the black uniformed trainers. They were so transfixed by my dad's rambling I strongly suspected a bomb could go off and they wouldn't notice. I looked upwards at the improvised skylight and gasped involuntarily. The sun had been completely wiped from view by fat, dark storm clouds sweeping in across the skies. The clouds came in inky black and murky grey, intertwining and swirling together like a macabre, gothic painting. The natural light was totally extinguished now, the only light illuminating the cave the artificial ones circling us. It was exactly like what had happened to the weather when Rayquaza had appeared.

I then noticed something else. There was a giant, shadowy blob forming far off in the distance. It was swelling and pulsating and just looking at it made a shock of nerves go through me. Whatever that was, it was making me very uneasy. What the hell was it? It wasn't like anything I'd ever seen before and that was starting to scare me! I frantically looked from black uniformed trainer to black uniformed trainer, to my dad, then back to the black uniformed trainers. No-one else had seemed to notice it!

Then I caught sight of the Pokemon. My Pokemon were staggering to their feet and I could see some of them with ears flat against their heads, cowering, trembling, shaking and letting out tiny, pitiful whines. I hadn't seen them act like this before, even with the appearances of Groudon, Kyogre and even Rayquaza. What the hell could be scaring them, and me, so much?

"Hey…" I said softly as the shadowy blob rapidly started to expand and darken ever more. "Hey." I said again as all of a sudden, I saw it begin to change colours. It was suddenly fringed with white and gold, before the white enveloped the whole black blob and began to expand. Seconds later I saw the white mass begin to lengthen and widen. "Hey!" I shouted, this time a lot louder, trying to get attention.

It worked. "Shut up, Sienna!" my father suddenly turned on me, fixing me with a glare that ordinarily would have scared me senseless. "How dare you interrupt me?"

"But—" I protested vaguely as he started ranting and raving at me again about my ignorance. I was watching over his shoulder at the white _thing. _I watched, my mouth hanging open as it began to take form… First four giant legs began to grow and take shape, pointed hooves forming at the end of the legs, then a long neck and a head with long ears…

"Hey!" I cried again, trying to shut him up. Panic and confusion were so evident in me that I didn't even care anymore what the circumstances of my talking were. "Hey! Hey!"

A strange appendage was growing out of the mysterious form. It was a brilliant, glowing gold in colour and shaped like some kind of crossed wheel that was placed around its abdomen. "Hey! Hey! Hey!" I attempted to make myself heard amongst the jostling of the black uniformed trainers. I couldn't even believe they hadn't spotted what I had seen now! The Pokemon were yelping at the sight of it, running away in fear!

"Hey!" I shouted again, trying to get my father's attention, but he still wittered on obliviously. "Hey! Hey!" He still did not reply. Eventually, my anger got the better of me and I shouted as loud as I could. "DAD!"

That stopped him. He halted, mid-sentence, his mouth hanging open, looking at me in a total mixture of confusion. "Sienna…?"

"Behind you, you idiot!"

The giant white _thing _that stood at the opposite end of the cave suddenly reared up on its hind legs and let out a booming roar.

Frightened gasps issued all around me. The black uniformed trainers jostled and collided, shouting in unmistakable surprise and fear. Some men swore, loud explosive curses, others began backing away, their eyes wide and terrified. The man holding me loosened his grip and backed off immediately, sounding horrified.

"Impossible!" I heard my father shout.

Realising properly for the first time that I had been released, I took the opportunity to run forward, stopping just next to my father who was standing there, completely still, his mouth gaping open and his eyes wide with fright. He was trembling. I didn't understand! What on earth was this _thing _that had gotten everyone so scared? He was that out of it he didn't even notice I was there until I found myself asking him a question, knowing he was the only one who could tell me what exactly was standing in front of us!

"What… what is that thing!"

"Ar…Arceus…" he croaked, his voice wavering and catching so much that I had to get him to repeat himself. "It's Arceus, Sienna!" he turned to me, his eyes ablaze.

The name was unfamiliar to me and I shook my head as his explanation.

"You're telling me you don't know what that is?"

"No!" I replied, staring at this strange white thing that I now assumed to be a Pokemon. "I don't have a clue…"

"Possibly the rarest, most powerful Pokemon in existence!" I was shocked to see my father take a few shaky steps backwards as he spoke. "A Pokemon that was rumoured to be around before the birth of the universe… the Pokemon that was rumoured to even have _created _the world as we know it! The Deity Pokemon… Arceus…"

"Deity…? So… so this Pokemon…is like _God…_?" I surmised, suddenly feeling terrified.

"Exactly…" he breathed out in one long, frantic exhale.

Fear shot through me. It was coming back to me slowly. I had once heard stories as a little girl about the origins of the universe in some of my classes at school. I remembered being told that before the universe was created, all that existed was an empty void. But somehow, a single egg came into being which hatched into Arceus, an all-powerful Pokemon which put in motion the creation of the universe. After its work was done, all those eons ago, it disappeared and was never seen again. But that was all I could remember... I knew there was more to the story, but I couldn't recall all the details. I had never been interested in history at school, especially when it concerned Pokemon. I mentally kicked myself for being so stupid as a kid…

"So… if this thing is meant to be God…" I mused worriedly. "What on earth is it doing _here_?"

"Arceus is meant to pass judgement on humans it deems unworthy," another voice to my right startled me and I saw Elliot, standing stationary next to me, his eyes firmly on the Arceus. "It views trouble-making humans with contempt… and passes judgement on them…" he eyed my father pointedly, who swallowed nervously.

"_Passes judgement…? I don't like the sound of that_."

Elliot's words had visibly unnerved my father. Fear was painted on his face and he looked down at the three Pokeballs he was holding, his eyes bulging.

"Cal! Cal, sir!" one of the black uniformed trainers had appeared next to him, looking eager. "Don't you see what an opportunity this is? It's Arceus! The Deity Pokemon! Do you realise the kind of power we could possess with Arceus under our command!"

My heart lurched with terror at the black uniformed trainer's suggestion. Even my dad looked horrified as he turned to look at his subordinate, looking at him like he was insane.

"Think about it, sir!" the black uniformed trainer was gabbling, tripping over his words in his excitement. "It would be what _he _wanted! If he was faced with such an opportunity, he would take it! If you do not… imagine how displeased with you he would be with you, sir!"

"ENOUGH!" my father suddenly bellowed, ending the black uniformed trainer's bizarre words. "I know what _he _wants! But let me tell you something! We cannot realistically even _attempt _to capture Arceus! Groudon, Kyogre and Rayquaza? Pah! They're _nothing _compared to the powers of a God!"

"But sir! It's orders! We have to follow ord—"

"Screw the orders! I won't put my life on the line to capture Arceus! It's out of our league, do you hear me?"

The conversation I was hearing was so confusing to me I wanted to scream! Dad didn't _want _to capture this Arceus? And what on earth did the black uniformed trainer mean by "we have to follow orders" and "imagine how displeased he would be"? But Dad didn't _take _orders, did he? He was the head of the whole thing… wasn't he? He _gave _orders; he didn't _follow _them… right?

I didn't get a chance to think on it much longer. With an almighty roar, the giant white Pokemon that I had come to know as Arceus launched itself in the air and cleared an impressive distance, coming straight to a halt in front of me, my dad, Elliot and the black uniformed trainers. I heard frightened yelling behind me and the cries of "come back, you cowards!" and I could only assume that in the presence of this Pokemon, some men had taken fright and fled.

"_No wonder I had felt so scared earlier…" _I thought to myself. "_If this Pokemon's sheer presence can make all these men run away like scared children… it must be so powerful… but like dad said… it's a _God!"

As the Arceus looked down upon us, a deep, sonorous, resonant voice suddenly began echoing across the cave. It was a strange, sonorous voice and I got the feeling that it could easily be kind and comforting; the kind of voice that could even soothe a frightened child… but now it was enraged, furious and bellowed with furious volume. To me, it sounded exactly like the voice of an angered, judgemental God. That voice could only belong to Arceus; I knew that for a fact.

"You ignorant humans…" it started, its voice tinged with anger. "You dare to capture the Legendary Pokemon of the world! You _dare _to upset the very balance of all life as you petty life-forms know? You fools! You know _nothing _of the life forces of this world!"

I looked at my father. His whole body was trembling. I knew that he had a stash of those Pokeballs he could use at any moment to capture that Arceus... but he didn't. He barely even moved. He kept a tight grip on the Pokeballs containing Groudon, Kyogre and Rayquaza. Near to me, I saw Jasmine and Nikki edge closer and closer until they were standing right next to me and Elliot in a perfect line. Their mouths were open in shock and they were clutching on to each other as the Deity Pokemon spoke. I couldn't blame them…

"Now, I command you to release those innocent Pokemon!" he demanded.

I jumped. "_How did it know?_" I thought in shock. I looked at my father, expecting him to yell and scream and shout and protest even in the face of Arceus. He stayed silent. His face however was twisted with disbelief and what anyone would say was fear… I couldn't even imagine what that Pokemon would do, could be _capable _of doing, to him if he did not obey it and release the Pokemon…

Just for that moment, that one moment, I was overwhelmed with a strong sense of pity.

"Did you not hear me, you insolent human?" he bellowed again. "Release the Pokemon you have in your possession!"

He looked down at the floor. "I… I cannot…"

"Why?" Arceus demanded.

I waited to hear the whole spiel again. The desire for power, respect and status… the wish to be ruler of the world. I completely expected him to say it, however foolish of a move it would be. But he said nothing of the sort. His hair, the same shade of red as mine, was hanging over his face; his eyes had lost all the maliciousness and contempt they once held… now they looked glassy and almost… sad. He looked like a little boy. It frightened me and for one mad moment, I wanted to reach out to him.

"Because… because it's orders…"

His reply stunned me and I felt my jaw fall open. I looked at him in shock, and then I flashed my head back to look at Elliot, Jasmine and Nikki who all looked as flummoxed as I did at his statement. Getting no answers from my friends, I immediately jerked my attention back to my father and the Arceus. The Arceus's eyes narrowed dangerously as it looked down at my father.

"Very well…" it said gravely. "Then I have no choice but to pass judgement on you,"

"_Pass judgement? What the hell does that mean_?"

"Don't be a fool, Cal!" someone suddenly yelled from behind us. "Capture that Arceus while you have a chance! You'll never see this opportunity again!"

The Arceus immediately let out a roar of contempt. "No mere mortal shall ever hope to contain _me_!" And with that, the Arceus suddenly expelled a blast of energy! Elliot suddenly grabbed me, pulling me as far as he could away from the resulting blast. Shielding our faces from the flying debris, I realised in dismay and amazement that this one attack was stronger than anything I had seen from Groudon, Kyogre or even Rayquaza. Nothing could hope to withstand that! Once the dust settled, I opened my eyes and to my horror saw a huge crater, smoking and burned, around ten foot deep and at least that wide right next to us, cutting the five of us off from the rest of the cave…

I let out a frightened, shocked gasp when I realised there were a lot of black uniformed trainers lying unconscious on the ground, bleeding badly. Dead… or just injured? I didn't know. But it made a violent shudder go through my whole body. A lot of the trainers who hadn't been hit by the blast had run for it. Many still remained though, too shocked to move.

"Cal!" one screamed. "Do something! Capture it! Restrain it! Do something!"

My father said nothing.

"Mark my words; you will never, ever mess with the Pokemon of this world again!" Arceus was bellowing again. "I will make sure of that! If you will not release those Pokemon willingly, then I shall do it for you!"

Without warning, Arceus fired a thin beam of energy straight at my father. I shouted out of instinct, suddenly terrified! My father, also instinctively, threw up his arms to protect himself, and the thin beam of energy hit right into the cluster of three Pokeballs. As soon as the beam collided with the three Pokeballs, there was another explosion! The blast powered backwards, sending ripples of force in all separate directions. Someone tackled me to the ground and I felt a rush of air speed past me with such force it was a wonder. As soon as things settled, I looked up and saw that Elliot had pulled me, Jasmine and Nikki straight down onto our stomachs to shield us.

All of a sudden, I caught sight of something that I hate to admit haunts me till this day.

My father lay, straight on his back, still clutching remnants of shattered, burned Pokeballs in his hands. His black uniform had been ripped apart, like claws had ravaged it open, his exposed white skin covered in vicious, bloody burns. He was making low groaning noises. Groudon, Kyogre and Rayquaza had been released from their Pokeballs and were lying in the farthest corner of the cave, completely and totally dazed. They weren't injured, but they weren't capable of moving, or of escaping, leaving them vulnerable. But for once, I didn't really care about those Pokemon and I did something I never thought I would do. I still find it difficult, even to this day, to offer an explanation as to what I did…

"Dad!"

Before I knew what I was doing, I had got to my feet and ran to him. I stood over him, trembling, looking at the state of my own father. "D…dad?" I ventured worriedly.

He was wincing with every movement. I saw the ruby red blood gleaming in the open cuts, his chest heaving with every breath. But somehow, he opened his eyes and looked at me. Just at that moment, I knew that the look he had just given me was going to haunt me forever. It was a look of profound sadness and resignation. He raised his head like he was going to get up but then butted it back down into the ground and closed his eyes, letting out a long sigh. I knew at that moment he had given up.

"D…dad?" I ventured.

I felt a hand on my shoulder. Elliot. He gently led me away. I let him take me, but at the same time, some part of me didn't want to leave my father's side…

"Let it be known…" the Arceus spoke again, but I was barely listening. I butted my head into Elliot's shoulder, suddenly just needing someone to hold on to. He wrapped his arms around me as I fought the tears back. "That no-one shall ever attempt to capture the Legendary Pokemon like this ever again! The technology that you possess, insolent human," the Arceus's eyes narrowed as they passed over my father and it was only then that I saw shattered fragments of those strange Pokeballs all over the ground, some fragments reaching up to six feet away. "If you humans _ever_attempt to contain the great Pokemon of this world ever again, I shall not be as merciful next time! Now if you—"

But all of a sudden, we heard the unmistakable noise of a Pokeball hitting into something solid. The Arceus turned its giant body around, letting out a roar of unmitigated anger, but it was too late. The brilliant white of the Arceus's body turned a bright red and disappeared into a Pokeball that fell to the ground.

Panic shot through me as I realised the Pokeball was exactly the same as the ones my father had. Larger than average, a deep purple and black patterned, an emblem and a strange, unreadable inscription. It was unmistakable.

"_But that's impossible! Arceus destroyed all the Pokeballs my dad had!_" My eyes widened even as that thought struck me. "_So… that means… if it wasn't my dad who did that… who _did_?"_

As I pondered these thoughts rapidly speeding through my head, I heard further sounds of Pokeballs opening and closing. I spun around on one foot just in time to see Groudon, Kyogre and Rayquaza disappear into Pokeballs too! Panic suddenly ensued. I heard Nikki and Jasmine exclaim in confusion and I darted my head around looking for where on earth those Pokeballs had come from! All of a sudden, my father had leapt to his feet and Elliot had darted past me, running straight for the still furiously quivering Pokeball that stood in the place of Arceus.

But as close as Elliot got to the Pokeball, he did not make it. A dark shadow suddenly swept across the sky and collided with Elliot, sending him flying backwards. He hit the ground hard right by me, winded and groaning in pain. "Elliot!" I shouted his name, dropping to the ground to examine him.

"Sienna, look!" I heard Jasmine shouting.

I looked upwards just in time to see my father attempting the exact same thing Elliot had just tried. He was sprinting across the ground, heading straight for the Pokeball. For a moment I almost thought he was going to make it.

As we stood there, watching the events unfolding in front of us, a very fine, shimmering yellow powder appeared from nowhere, drifting almost lazily. My father ran straight into the yellow cloud and as his body became encased by the particles, he came to an abrupt stop, like he had frozen. He began to curse and swear, yelling "I can't move! I can't move!"

"_What is that_!"

"Stun Spore!" I heard Elliot rasp weakly.

As I tried to make sense of this whole bizarre situation, figure out _who _had thrown those Pokeballs, _how _they had their hands on the Pokeball technology my dad had, what on earth my father had meant by having to "follow orders", what the hell I was meant to do now, all coupled with the intense fear and terror I was experiencing at the thought of someone now having Groudon, Kyogre, Rayquaza _and _Arceus in their control, I just wanted to run away, I was that scared.

And then suddenly, I saw a Pokemon sweep across the sky and grab the Pokeball that stood in the place of Arceus.

It was a Butterfree.

Something in my heart fell on its side as I caught sight of that Butterfree. I would never imagine seeing something as seemingly harmless as a Butterfree could inspire so much terror and fear, but on that day, it did.

"_Wait…that Butterfree looks familiar… but where have I seen a Butterfree before…?" _the answer came to me in one horrible realization. "_Oh no… oh no… it can't be_!"

Everything suddenly fell into place, like the last piece of a terrifying jigsaw.

A figure was approaching us. As we watched it grow ever closer, the Butterfree landed delicately upon its shoulders, plopping Arceus's Pokeball into his expectant, outstretched hand. Then, a serpentine Pokemon came slithering across the earthy ground, delivering a further three Pokeballs to its master.

The person took the proffered Pokeballs. It was too dark for anyone to make out the person's features, even hazard a guess as to whether it was male or female.

"Butterfree, use Flash!"

As a harsh bright light lit up the cave around us, the figure came into view without any question of a doubt of his identity. But I already knew who it was. And I already knew _what _he was…

"You foolish girl," his lip coiled into a triumphant smirk. "I guess you finally understand _now_, don't you…?" And then he began to chuckle, his cackling laugh reverberating and bouncing off everything in the cave, sending a never-ending echo, like a million people were revelling in the pleasure of seeing how much of a fool I had truly been…

* * *

**Author's Note**

**Well, I sincerely hope I managed to catch at least **_**some **_**of you out with this little twist! :) If you haven't figured it out, all will be revealed next chapter!**

**My longest chapter yet! :O**

**I know there seems to be an over-abundance of legendaries, but this is the last appearance, I promise!**

**This chapter was hell. The whole arc is hell! And I've only got two to three more chapters to go before Spirited is concluded!**

**Thanks again to everyone who has reviewed!**

**Kai-chan94: Hee hee! Thank you!**

**eeveelutionluvr: I hope I didn't disappoint! And I'm glad they're back too! I love Nikki and Jazz! Sienna isn't the same without her girls :)**

**Cookie Krisp: Heh, I dread the ending too! I won't know what to do with my life once its over! Yeah, I get the thing with the exclamation marks... I'll go back once the story is concluded and fix up some things :)**

**Chaison: That made me laugh so much! "nerdgasm"... awesome :)**

**Splashstorm: I adore you. Enough said :)**

**WOWfan12: Thank you so much! :)**

**TweweyReaperGirl: Aww, it makes me happy to see new reviewers! Thank me? No, I should thank all you guys for reading! :)**

**Something dictionary related: Haha, I aim to please! :)**

**CodOfWar: Aww, I'm sorry! Hope this doesn't disappoint you and I'm working hard on the ending to make sure its awesome :)**

**Manser77: Another new reviewer? And I don't want it to end either! *cries***

**ArchXDeath: Aww, you are a sweetheart :) Sienna's dad Cal manufactures a type of Master Ball fused with Capture Styler technology to make artificial bonds with the Pokemon that's captured :( he is an evil man, there's no doubt about it. I LOVE Lost Names, it just makes me happy. Your battle scenes are amazing! Arigato my friend! :)**

**Silver: Aww! You're awesome too for reviewing!**

**So please, join me on the bumpy ride that will be the ending of Spirited! Coming soon! :)**

**Please read and review!**


	52. Facing the Final Curtain Part III

"Nathan…" I exhaled in one long terrified breath.

"Nice to see you again," A wicked malicious grin just seeping with evil intent was slowly spreading across the man's face, like he was enjoying taunting me, and mocking the situation I had just found myself in. "I guess you finally understand, don't you, Sienna?"

"Yeah." I said stiffly. His glee at my realisation was infuriating, and it took everything I had to keep myself calm and composed. "You're the real leader of this organization, aren't you Nathan? It wasn't my dad, was it? It was you all along… you were the mastermind behind it all!"

"Heh," he smirked. "You flatter me, Sienna…"

"Sienna…?" Elliot murmured worriedly next to me. "What's going on…?"

"I've been an idiot, Elliot…" I said, hanging my head. "My dad isn't the one responsible for this organization. He's _not _the man in charge here!"

I heard gasps from Nikki and Jasmine.

"It's_ this _man here!" I pointed at Nathan, and another victorious smile erupted over his face, and he dropped into a theatrical bow.

"This man?" Elliot gasped. "But this is the man we fought in the Pokemon Centre… how can he be—?"

"I don't know, Elliot, but he just _is_!" I snapped. "God, he's been trying to tell me for ages but I was just too blind, I didn't see it!"

The realization was killing me. I had been so small minded, just assuming because I had a personal connection, that my dad could be no-one _but _the leader! How stupid! Because of that I had spent all this time chasing after the wrong man, focusing on the wrong man! I had been so blind! I had wilfully blinded myself to what I thought was the answer, without even thinking of other possibilities. It had been so obvious now… the way Nathan had spoken when I first met him… the indications that my father was not respected in the organization, the way Nathan laughed when I accused him of working underneath my father, his constant insisting that I didn't understand what was _really _going on… God, it was so clear now!

But then, something else came to my attention as I struggled with those thoughts. If Nathan was the true leader of this organization… then what did that make my dad? What was he to the whole scheme of things? He had certainly seemed like a leader… he _had _been the one who had seemed to be running things at Mt Chimney four months ago… he had been the one who captured Kyogre, then Groudon later on, and eventually Rayquaza… he had all the _responsibilities _you would attribute to a leader… but he wasn't'! Confusion engulfed me, and I turned back to my father.

"So… what does that make you, Dad?" I asked coldly. "Who are you to all this? If you're not the Leader like I thought, then how come you _act _like one?"

"Gah, you'll notice Sienna, I never once said I was the _leader_ of this whole thing! That was something you came up with all on your own!" my father was still struggling against the restraints of the Stun Spore, but the effect was starting to lessen.

"So what—?"

"A mere front, that is all." Nathan's cool voice interjected and I twisted around to look at him. "Perhaps you would liken it to a puppet," he said smoothly. "I could not handle this whole operation by myself, could I? I could not risk my identity being exposed, could I? Considering that in my native Unova, I am a wanted criminal within the region for my dealings with Team Plasma. I had to operate on the sly, only leaving the organization in matters of importance when I was really needed…"

His references to the Unova region and Team Plasma were alien to me, but I ignored them and pressed on with my questioning. "So, if you wanted to stay hidden, then what were you doing down in Mt Chimney when we were captured?"

He blinked in surprise.

"Don't try and deny it! My friend's Magby burned your face, remember?"

Nathan's hand absent-mindedly touched the patch of blistered, red skin on his cheek. "Yes… I remember that," he said, his voice taking on that cold edge again. "You silly girl, I stayed underground for a reason. To not be seen! I could not allow the true face of my organization be known, even the slightest recognition of who I was could prove fatal for me. Unfortunately, I just seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time when you and your little friends escaped. But what could I do? Stand there and let you escape to spread the word of my endeavours? No! I had to at least _try _to stop you."

"So what about when I saw you in Lilycove…" I demanded, suddenly getting the feeling the final vital few blanks were about to be filled in.

"Recon to find out if any of those blasted trainers that your mother's involved with were scouting the area." He replied smoothly. "A delicate procedure, requiring infinite amounts of finesse to blend in. And who better qualified than a wanted criminal, able to disguise themselves and blend in completely?"

"Whatever happened to not wanting people to see you, in case you were recognised?"

"I didn't expect to see anyone out that late…"

I let that one go. "And what about in Lavaridge Pokemon Centre…?"

"After my men cleared Lavaridge of any unwanted spectators, it became evident that the team needed supplies." He said, with a simple shrug of his shoulders. "I volunteered. I was one of the few people the few locals still hanging around wouldn't recognise as someone who attacked their town. Besides…" there was a little manic grin on his face as he spoke. "It does me good to get out and about from time to time…"

I found that I believed what he was saying. What he said made sense, in a bizarre sort of way. He was right… he _couldn't _show his face around too much if he was such a wanted criminal. But in the same sense, he must not have been notorious enough that he could still walk around an almost deserted town and Lilycove late at night, and not be recognised. _I _certainly didn't recognise him as a criminal. But it all made a weird sort of sense. This man Nathan was telling the truth, I knew that. So that meant, he really _was _the leader of all this…

But there was still something I wanted to know. And it concerned my father.

"So… why…? Why did you…?" I looked at my father again, suddenly unable to finish my sentence, and I broke off, looking at him helplessly. He said nothing, not even meeting my gaze. I didn't feel angry at him anymore. I just felt numb and confused and didn't know what to think. "Why did you even join up with them in the first place…?"

My father said nothing, so Nathan answered for him, a glint sparkling in his eye, his voice eager, like a little child telling tale on another. "Your father has remarkable skill and strength in battle. Plus a ruthless nature to boot. I'm sure you know all about that, yes?"

My mouth curled into a frown. "Yes…"

"I remember when I visited Johto for the first time and I landed in Pallet Town…" Nathan had a malicious grin as he spoke. "I heard rumours of a man who ran a dojo who was an exceedingly powerful Pokemon trainer. At the time, the first inklings of my plan to capture Legendary Pokemon were coming to me, and I was eager to recruit trainers to my cause. When I met with your father, I recognised the same lust for power in him that I had and I was keen to take him on board."

"So that's it, then?" I turned to my father, my anger raging. "That's why you left? You cleared off because some raving lunatic turned up on your doorstep promising you fame, glory and power? You left your own family because of that?"

"Well, my dear Miss Volbeda…" Nathan's icy tones sent shivers down my spine. "I believe there's more to the story than you think…"

"More…?" I blinked.

"Nathan!" My father's voice made me jump. "Enough! This does not concern her! She doesn't _need _to know this!"

"Oh on the contrary, Cal, I believe she does…" he said coldly, a hard, stony edge to his voice. He looked at me square on. "You want to hear the whole story… don't you Sienna?"

Despite my father's angered shouting, I nodded, suddenly filled with a sense of ominous finality…

Drawing himself up to his full height, Nathan grinned, casting a triumphant look in my dad's direction before focusing on me. "Your father took a _lot _more convincing to join my cause than I anticipated… at the time, my reputation as a wanted criminal within Team Plasma preceded me. Poor little Cal knew _all _about my strength as a Pokemon trainer, and as you can guess, was even a little _reluctant _to join up with me. But I gave him a choice… join my cause and leave with me within a week, or…"

"Nathan! Don't you dare!"

Nathan's eyes narrowed and he slowly licked his lips in eager anticipation, a move that reminded me all too much of an Arbok ready to pounce on its trapped prey. "Or I would kill his wife and his little girl!"

I almost collapsed on the spot. In fact, Elliot had to grab me as I felt weak, and staggered back a few steps in my shock. For that moment, as the fear reverberated through me, if it weren't for Elliot holding me up, I probably wouldn't have been able to stand under my own power. "K… kill…?" was all I could say in a hoarse, croaking voice.

Nathan carried on the story completely nonchalantly and flippantly, like he was reciting something he knew off by heart. "Well, as you could expect, your father complied and agreed to leave. Pitiful really… I didn't really leave you much choice, did I, Cal?"

Dad said nothing. I however, had plenty to say. Plenty I wanted to know. Some things still didn't make a lot of sense…

"Did you… did you tell mum… what made you leave…?"

"Would she have believed me, Sienna…?" he replied, shaking his head. "Your mother hated me as it stood. I cannot blame her either. I was neither a good husband nor a good father. I tried to push you into Pokemon battling against your will, and I must admit, when I left two years ago, I was happy you had not chosen that path. I knew that when word eventually spread about what we were doing, you would not come after us, and I was glad about that."

"_But for what…?_" I suddenly found myself thinking, and I interjected before he could carry on. "Glad about what? That I wouldn't follow you and get hurt? Or that I wouldn't follow and screw it all up for you?"

"I'll let you make your mind up about that, yourself."

"But—!"

"What does it matter? You came anyway! Somehow your blasted mother found out what was going on and just up and left! Left you, a fourteen year old girl by _herself _with no clue as to what was going on! She should have expected you to go after her! Pokemon or not, you would have followed her no matter what!"

"I don't understand… are you trying to say that you left us two years ago to _protect _us?"

A strange look appeared on his face. It was a combination of sheepishness and foolishness as his face took on a reddened tinge. When he spoke, his voice sounded strangled, like it was difficult for him to deliver his answer. "Yes."

"So… so why didn't you just say so, then? Why didn't you tell me that first time I met you in the Cave of Origin?"

"Because by that time, everything _had _become about "the fame, glory and power" as you put it, Sienna!" Nathan interjected.

"Yes, I'll admit that…" my father said, hanging his head. "But you have to understand how I felt when I saw you that time on Mt Chimney all those months ago! After what I did back then to keep you and your mother safe, to see there, right in the middle of it all, and then to hear your mother was tailing me… Some part of me still worried about you both… but I had no choice but to continue under my boss's orders! In truth, I _wanted _to keep following my boss's orders! I wanted those legendary Pokemon and the power Nathan said would come with them. Ididn't _have _anything else in my life apart from what Nathan promised me! No friends, no family, no nothing! Just the promise of power!" but then he raised his head and looked at me, his normally narrowed, cold eyes wide and glazed over, almost like he was pleading. "But even still…even still… some part of me still wanted to keep you away from it all, Sienna!"

"So why did you do all the things you did, then?" I wasn't buying his story at all yet. "You ordered Kyogre to attack us all! You set all those men on us, all those Pokemon on us! Not to mention the way you acted when you were winning! You acted downright horrible! You can't tell me you wanted to "keep me away from it all" and still behave the way you did! So, which one is the truth? You can't expect me to believe half of it was all just an act!"

"That's because it wasn't an act!" he yelled back. "The way I behaved when I had those Legendary Pokemon… that was real! I finally had for my own what I had worked so hard towards for two years! But you and your stupid mother had kept interfering, so when I finally tasted victory, I didn't even care anymore. I just revelled in it! But now… now I just see how foolish this whole thing was…" my father turned his head to Nathan. "You never intended to share the power, did you? Even if Arceus _hadn't _interfered, you would have taken those Pokemon from me anyway. You were never interested in giving me or anyone else here, a slice of that power."

"Heh," Nathan smiled. "You've got it."

"You son of a bitch!" my father, free at last from the Stun Spore suddenly lunged for Nathan. However, quick as a flash, Nathan held up the Pokeball that contained Arceus, stopping my father right in his tracks.

"Easy Cal," he warned, a light, teasing tone to his voice. "You wouldn't like me to drop this little Pokeball, would you now? If Arceus escapes, it could easily obliterate you right here…"

My dad growled. "You're a bastard, Nathan! I regret ever getting involved with you!"

"Why yes, Cal. It _has _been a pleasure, hasn't it?"

"You're mad, Nathan…" my dad was seething with rage. "Mad!"

As I watched the exchange between them, I felt weak and dizzy, breathless and totally detached from everything. Everything that had just happened… it was overwhelming and my head spun trying to contain it all, make sense of it all. I could help but feel a peculiar mix of emotions at what had just all been revealed. Dad _wasn't _the leader of this organization, and in fact, Nathan was? Dad had been blackmailed into joining due to his strength as a trainer, under threat of having his family killed? He had given in to protect his family, but as time went on had become too preoccupied with the thought of power... But he honestly expected me to believe that he had tried to protect me, back then and apparently even now? It was rubbish! He had never showed me anything but disappointment and contempt all the time when I was growing up! He'd never tried to protect me in my _life_!

I couldn't think of _any _part at all of the past four months that would indicate he had tried to protect me! Well… I guess, as I thought about it, I remembered that he had made Kyogre use Whirlpool to sweep us out of the cave instead of just flat out attacking us. And then there had been that bizarre, uncharacteristic apology right before he summoned Groudon. But that was all I could think of. That wasn't enough for redemption in my opinion, so why did he insist so much on it! Oh, but then again, what would he have to gain by lying? What could he gain from saying he tried to protect me? There was nothing apparent that _I _could think of! But then why would he act all triumphant, like a glorified comic book villain when he won, rubbing it in my face?

I screamed inwardly, wanting to sink my head into my hands. This was so goddamn _confusing_! Where did he _stand_? Where did my father stand? Now, he seemed to have gone against Nathan, taken a completely different attitude since Arceus had come into the equation. Where did he stand? On my side? Or somewhere else entirely?

But, I was forgetting the most important issue here. Forget Dad. Forget him and his confusing story. The most pressing, terrifying, immediate problem right now was Nathan. The fact that Nathan had Arceus. Nathan right now, had possession of the most powerful Pokemon in the history of the world, _plus _Groudon, Rayquaza and Kyogre. And Nathan was a raving madman intent on more power then even my own father was. It had been enough of a hopeless situation when I thought I was stopping my father with just Groudon, Rayquaza and Kyogre. But now…I had to stop a man probably even more powerful and crazier than my dad. _And _he had Arceus.

It would be a miracle if we got out of this alive.

But then, just as that scary thought surfaced, I heard shouts from behind me.

"Stop this madness now!"

The voice rang through me as loud and clear as a bell. I inhaled sharply, looking all around me, trying to see where it came from. But the cave was so massive that the echoes travelled everywhere, making it almost impossible to determine where it was coming from!

But then, I heard the noises of Pokemon. All of a sudden, dark shapes flew in from the chambers deep inside Mt Chimney. I couldn't believe it! My eyes followed the darkened shapes and I could make out Pidgeots, Staraptors, a Tropius, a Charizard, a Salamence, a Dragonite and even more that I did not recognise. The Pokemon swooped in, circled us overhead before diving to the ground. Nathan stood calmly throughout the whole ordeal, even looking somewhat fascinated at the display of trainers and Pokemon.

I heard someone shout an order, a male voice, different from the first one. Then as the Pokemon neared the ground, people began to drop from the backs of the Pokemon, landing all around us. As the people landed all around us, forming an almost perfect semi-circle, I saw familiar faces flashing across my vision. Misty, Flannery, even Wallace, as well as at least fifteen other trainers. Seconds later, their giant Flying Pokemon thudded to the ground, forming a protective barrier around them.

As amazing and unbelievable as what had just happened was, and as happy as I was to see my friends safe after Kyogre's attack had separated us all, they still weren't my first priority. I had heard a voice that I recognised, a voice so important to me, and I was desperate to see where she was! I scanned the ranks of trainers close to me, but I did not see her face among them. Impossible! I had definitely heard her! Where was she? Where the hell was she?

But then, just as my panic threatened to overcome me, I saw another dark shape sweep across the cave. It stayed airborne until it circled the cave twice, before coming to a graceful stop on the ground. I spied two riders astride the giant girth of a Pokemon. As the figures came into the light, I made out a Dragonite, and one male figure and one female figure dismounting. Instantly I recognised them. My heart leapt! One was Lance… and one was…

"Mum!"

"Sienna!"

She crossed from the side of Lance's Dragonite and looked at me, long and hard. I could barely believe I was looking at her. Relief swamped me. She didn't look hurt at all. She was safe!

Her face betrayed no emotion, so it was impossible for me to read her. I couldn't tell if she was relieved, sad, angry or anything else! I hardly even dared to breathe, terrified for what she was going to say

All of a sudden, her face softened and she smiled. "You really are my daughter. You've definitely got my stubbornness."

I breathed out and chuckled. "Yeah!"

Flashing one last smile at me, she turned around. Even though she had her back to me, it was impossible to ignore a sight of a look of pure determination on her face suddenly melt away to be replaced with utter perplexity as she saw no signs of any Legendary Pokemon, my father standing harmlessly to the side, and Nathan clutching the four purple patterned Pokeballs.

"Elliot!"

I turned to see Lance, in the most uncharacteristic display, break from his formation, seize his little brother and pull him into a tight hug, murmuring "Thank heavens you're okay!" If it wasn't such a serious situation I probably would have laughed at the look on Elliot's face.

"Lance!" Elliot cried indignantly, looking mortified. "This really isn't the time…" however, his protests turned vague as he said this, his voice wavering off, and he returned his brother's hug.

"I'll say," my mum said coldly, her voice making me jump. "Who's this guy?" she pointed accusingly at Nathan. "And what are _you_," she glared at my father, standing on his own to the side. "…doing just standing there?"

"Mum…" I ventured, wondering how the hell I was gonna explain this…

"Sienna, be quiet!"

"But mum, dad's not the—"

"I said, enough!"

"You should listen to our daughter, Suzanne." My dad suddenly interjected. I saw mum wince at the word "our", then again at the mention of her name.

"Mum, we've all been total idiots!" I started to gabble, so eager to get all my words out before she told me to shut up again. "Dad's _not _the leader of the whole thing! _He _is!" I pointed at a grinning Nathan. "I mean, I'm not saying dad's totally devoid of blame, of course not! He captured Kyogre, Groudon _and _Rayquaza! But then Arceus showed up and—"

"Arceus?" Lance barked from nearby, making me jump. "You expect me to believe that the Deity Pokemon itself appeared before your very eyes?"

Before I could say anything, Nathan injected himself into the conversation. He held up the Pokeball I knew for a fact contained the legendary Deity Pokemon. "Would you like to me to _show _you?"

Lance opened his mouth to say something, but my mum cut him off. "So, let me get this straight. You're the _real _leader here?"

Nathan nodded his head slowly, a look of unmitigated glee sparkling in his eye. "Indeed I am."

"So, if you're supposed to be the head honcho around here, what the hell was _he _doing going after Legendary Pokemon?" mum looked pointedly towards my father, frowning.

"My dear Suzanne," Nathan said in a silky sweet tone that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. "Every leader needs his subordinates. Why, I was simply giving _your husband _the powers he desired. It is not my fault if he was too foolish to realise I would _never _relinquish the power I so ardently wanted for myself!"

"So, you made Cal do all the dirty work and what…? You took the Legendaries from him?"

"Not quite," Nathan smiled. "As it would happen, Arceus gave me a little help. Destroying the Pokeball and releasing the Legendaries from their prison proved all too easy for such a powerful Pokemon. And then, whilst these fools were distracted," he waved his hand, indicating me, the girls, Elliot and my father. "It was all too simple for me to take possession of Groudon, Kyogre, Rayquaza _and _Arceus!"

"So you're saying that you hold in your hands some of the most powerful Pokemon in the world?" Mum didn't sound scared, not in the slightest. She sounded angry. Angrier than I'd ever heard her before. Her hands were poised on the Pokeballs at her belt, ready for action at the slightest need. The Pokemon around her seemed to pick up on her agitation and they all began emitting low, throaty growls

"That's exactly what I'm saying," Nathan said, a triumphant smirk slowly tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"You won't get away with this!" Lance suddenly yelled, breaking away from his brother and brandishing a Pokeball.

"On the contrary, my dear fellow, I already have." Nathan grinned. His calm demeanour was unnerving me. He was cool, collected almost nonchalant, even whilst in the middle of at least twenty people, all intent on stopping him and all shouting and yelling at him. He was radiating a calm confidence, his fingers stroking the Pokeballs he was holding, surveying every human and Pokemon around him with an equal look of contempt. There was no doubt about it. This man scared me. He frightened me more than my dad, even with all my dad's shouting, all his brute force, all his scary, intimidating, incredibly strong Pokemon… I used to think my father was the scariest man on the planet. Now… now it was a completely different story.

"Legendaries or not, you can't hope to take on all of us!" Mum yelled.

"_Is she mad?_" I thought in a panic._ "Are they _all _mad? They can't stop Nathan, even with all their Pokemon! It's impossible! They can't take down a _God!"

"You silly woman," Nathan shook his head. "It would make no difference if I was outnumbered a hundred, no, a _thousand _to one. You cannot win! Not against the might of Arceus! _You cannot win_!"

"We'll see about that!" Mum had suddenly snatched all her Pokeballs from her belt, hurling them with such force that, if they hit someone, they would have probably knocked them out. "Go, everyone! Take that bastard down!"

"End this!" Lance smoothly released his own Pokemon.

"You guys too!" Wallace threw his own Pokeballs into the mix.

"Take 'em down!" Misty tossed some of her own to help.

"Help them out!" Flannery also threw Pokeballs into the fray.

Following on from the examples of the Gym Leaders, the few other trainers were soon chucking Pokeballs out into the cave. The cave was suddenly full of blasts, jolts and flashes of white light. Seconds later, all manner of Pokemon burst from the Pokeballs. Snarling, growling and snapping at his heels, the Pokemon encircled Nathan. However, Nathan stood there, looking almost bored as the Pokemon approached him. They were Pokemon even _I _was intimidated by. I saw Pokemon like Typhlosion, Abomasnow, Scyther, Gyarados, Milotic, Tyranitar, Spiritomb, Gliscor, Jynx, even a Froslass and loads of other strong, tough powerful Pokemon. And Nathan stood nonchalantly in the middle of the circle of Pokemon, looking like he didn't even care.

"You really don't understand, do you…?" Nathan's cold, hard voice was clear even above the snarling, growling and roaring of all the Pokemon surrounding him. "You can't win! Not against the might of the Legendaries." He drew back, balancing two Pokeballs in either hand. "This ends here! Go, Kyogre, Groudon, Rayquaza and… Arceus!"

I cannot even begin to describe what it was like from that moment onwards. From the second those four legendary Pokemon burst from the Pokeballs that had contained them, there was panic. I heard screams of "attack!" and right before my eyes; I saw every single one of the Pokemon in that cave spring into a ferocious battle. Every Pokemon that belonged to our side threw themselves with no hesitations at the legendary Pokemon, biting, scratching, tackling, firing wicked elemental attacks, throwing everything they had to keep the Legendaries at bay. The sounds of the blasts firing, the Pokemon yelping in pain, or roaring as they attacked, the blasts ripping open the rock of the cave… it was all terrible. I couldn't even bring myself to listen to it all. It was like the sounds of war. I had heard it before, but it was something that no matter how many times you heard it; you could never become accustomed to…

Nathan was laughing evilly to himself in the background as the chaos unfolded all around us. My mother and all the other trainers were shouting various commands that could barely even be heard in the uproar. The Pokemon belonging to me, Elliot, Jasmine and Nikki suddenly got to their feet and threw themselves into the fray too, even though I screamed at them not to. All around me, the Legendary Pokemon laid straight into every Pokemon that dared to get near it, batting them away as if they were annoying bugs they yearned to swat. Groudon beat its giant tail upon the ground, causing earthquakes, Kyogre sent forth powerful torrents of water, Rayquaza was whipping up powerful twisters and Arceus unleashed crackling, furious beams of energy that ripped apart anything that it touched.

I couldn't handle watching this. The Legendary Pokemon were completely dominating the others. I was terrified for my Pokemon's safety, but no matter how hard I screamed for my Pokemon to run away, they either didn't hear me, or didn't _want _to hear me. It was total carnage. Pokemon were being thrown all over the place, some of them not getting up again, I saw blood splatter all over the cave, but the Pokemon were packed too tightly together that it made it impossible to see who was hurt and who wasn't. The massive beams and stray attacks were slowly but surely beginning to destroy the cave, the ferocious roars inspired terror in me and the yelps of pain tugged at my heartstrings, making me want to burst into tears just hearing them. I could hear frightened shouts of the trainers near me, all terrified for their Pokemon's well-being, but their urge to do something to help far outweighing their common sense. This was just suffering. Endless, needless, pain and suffering. And all for the greed of one man.

"_This… this isn't right!_" I thought, terrified, still watching the writhing, screeching, roaring mass of warring Pokemon. "_These Pokemon aren't meant to fight like this! Legendaries aren't _meant _to be caught! It's not right! I have to stop this! Somehow_!"

I found myself running. Running straight towards Nathan. He was the only one who had the power to realistically stop this now! Dodging around the battling Pokemon, having to duck and throw myself to the ground a few times as stray attacks blasted past me, and some Pokemon broke away from the main group to attack from different angles; I soon had Nathan in my sights. With him so close, I pushed myself even harder, getting as close to him as I possibly could.

"NATHAN!"

He couldn't ignore me. He reluctantly moved his eyes away from the sight in front of us, to look at me. The look of childlike glee passed to be replaced with a look of cool, stony contempt that reminded me of cold steel.

"You have to stop!" I begged him. "Please! You have to stop this! This isn't right!"

His personality immediately changed. His face became twisted with rage, his voice a high-pitched screech. "Stop? Why would we stop!" he demanded. "We've been working too hard for too long to just _stop_! You don't understand what we went through! Do you know how difficult it was to research all these Legendaries? How much time and money and effort went on developing the technology to capture them? How much difficulty we had in flushing the damn things _out_? How hard it was to make all those explosives to rig Mt Chimney with to blast that goddamned Groudon out? How we tried to lure the Legendary Pokemon out by causing natural disasters! Yes, people suffered! Yes, some even _died! _But now… after all this effort… I finally have what I want! Power! Absolute power! I'll be seen as a God! Everyone will fear me and revere me, treat me like a King! So, no! I will not stop! I will not, do you hear me? I will _not_!"

"But you're putting the whole world out of balance! Legendary Pokemon aren't _meant _to be captured and made to do the bidding of humans! They're too amazing… too magical… too _brilliant _to be kept by humans! The whole_ world _will suffer if these Pokemon aren't returned to their natural ways!"

"ENOUGH!" He bellowed.

Rage flashed across his face and I couldn't help but take a step back, my heart thudding painfully against my ribcage, like it was trying to beat out of my chest. What was he going to do now? My body was trembling uncontrollably and a cold sweat broke out all over my body, as Nathan bellowed for Arceus.

"Arceus! Here, now!"

I froze. "_Arceus! What… what the hell is he gonna make Arceus do?_"

Nathan turned and pointed his finger straight at me. "The girl, Arceus! Kill the girl!"

My heart leapt to my throat, my stomach twisted in horror, my body felt like a shock had gone through it as Nathan yelled that order. The Arceus obediently stopped what it was doing, turned on its heel and launched itself into the air. It came to a crashing halt in front of me, causing ripples of force underneath my feet. I fell backwards as the almighty Arceus towered above me, a murderous glint in it eyes. It began readying a ball of energy, staring me down. My body didn't seem to be connected to my brain anymore and even though every fibre of my being screamed at me to get up and move, I could not. I stayed there, horrified, my eyes locked with Arceus, a terrifying thought invading my head.

"_Am I… Am I going to die here?"_

* * *

**Author's Note**

**(This chapter may undergo edits!)**

**Well, if things go to plan, this is the third last chapter of Spirited! I was gonna make the next one the last chapter, but there are a lot of loose ends I need to tie up that I can't do in one chapter. :O **

**I've wrestled with this chapter for days, I really don't want to wreck almost a years worth of work with a bad ending :(**

**I got so bad with procrastinating this chapter I found a Pokemon Trainer card generator online and made cards for Sienna, Elliot, Jasmine, Scott, Nikki, Cal and Suzanne... Plus Mai and Kei from Opposites Attract. I really need a life. **

**I have two special shout-outs! One for the very talented ArchXDeath whose work has inspired me to keep going, and another to a reader named Jess who contacted me via facebook to tell me I really was a wonderful writer! Thank you both so much!**

**Well, on to the reviews!**

**Kai-Chan94: Yeah, I hope this chapter cleared it up! :)**

**Manser77: I think Arceus is stronger, at least according to all the sources I found when I was researching Arceus for the chapters!**

**WildCroconaw: Oh no is right! :)**

**WOWFan123: I can't believe it either! A whole year's worth of work is almost coming to an end!**

**eeveelutionluvr: Hee hee! I think I'm gonna make a Spirited character file so everyone knows who is who! :) Thank you!**

**Sniper Mudkip: Yay for gettng an account! :) I'm glad I caught you out with Nathan! :)**

**Something dictionary related: I don't know how that would have worked... I'm intrigued now... I never thought about doing that as a twist...**

**Splashstorm: I really do adore you. I am wrestling with the idea of a sequel, and I have a couple of concepts running around my head, but I'm not sure of a decent plotline yet. Aaah! Its so hard! Anyone who has any ideas for a sequel, please PM me! Thank you so much!**

**Kitsune24: 39 chapters in a day, huh? :O I can't believe that! Thank you so much!**

**ArchXDeath: Yeah, maybe you are right about splitting Part II into two chapters... I'm gonna do a whole re-edit of the story after I finish, so that may be one of them! :) Aww, greenhorn-shipping for Sienna and Elliot! That's so cute! What does everyone else think? Thank you again!**

**Annaebelle the raikou: I'm so glad to have such dedicated reviewers like you! Thank you for taking the time to read it and review!**

**Musa lover: Hee hee, keep reading... you may be pleasantly surprised!**

**Okay, people, y'all know the drill. Please read and review! We haven't got much longer to go!**


	53. Facing the Final Curtain Part IV

"Arceus! Arceus, no! Please!" I started to beg, completely at a loss of what else I could do. "Please! Don't listen to him! You don't have to do this!"

But the Arceus either didn't hear me or didn't want to listen to me. The giant beam of energy was forcibly expelled from its mouth and I still don't know to this day how I managed to get out of the way. But with one almighty push of my body, I sprung out of the way of the attack, feeling the horrific rush of pulsating energy sweep past me, only just missing me!

I got to my feet shakily, getting as far away from the Arceus as I could. My space was limited, the cave was torn apart, giant chasms scarred the ground and deep treacherous trenches were all around me. I practically had nowhere to run. If the Arceus shot another beam at me, I would be a goner. There was no way I could _totally_ avoid the next one without being hurt, at _least_. My only hope was to somehow get through to the raging Arceus. It had been so adamant when it first appeared that no human would ever capture it. Even though it had come under Nathan's control, it was such a powerful Pokemon… it couldn't _wholly _be influenced by him, I reasoned! There must be some part of it I could still appeal to, make it see the sense in what it was doing!

It was a long shot. But it was all I could do.

"Arceus, please!" I shouted, the Deity Pokemon immediately turning its giant head to look at me, its eyes narrowing into furious slits. "This isn't right! Look at what's happening around you! Pokemon like you aren't meant to be captured! You said it yourself! No mortal could ever hope to contain you! You said that capturing Legendary Pokemon would throw the world off balance!"

"Don't listen to her, Arceus! Kill her!"

"No, Arceus!"

The Arceus's eyes remained as glassed over as ever, and he blasted another intensely powerful wave of energy towards me. This one came totally unexpected and I wasn't able to fully get out of the way. The edge of the blast caught my arm, ripping it open. Pain sliced straight through me, my arm burned like it had been lashed with a white hot poker, and as I glanced at it, I saw I had sustained a massive wound. A huge chunk of my forearm had been ripped open, revealing the sinewy, bloody flesh underneath the skin. It looked like something from a horror film. My hand automatically flew to my injury, and the pain seared through it as soon as I touched it. When I instinctively yanked my hand away, I saw it soaking with rich red blood. Even as I experimentally tried to move it, the pain flared up again, making my whole body cry out, aching for it to stop.

"Ar…Arceus!" I was beginning to feel dizzy already from the wound and the effort of standing still. "Please… you must… you must stop this!"

"We won't stop until everyone in this region bows to me!" Nathan was screaming from nearby.

"Aren't you listening to him, Arceus?" I pleaded, trying to ignore Nathan. "Can't you _hear _what he's saying? He's trying to use you for his own selfish gains! He's just using you to get power! Are you really gonna let him get away with this!"

"Enough, you little bitch!" I turned around and Nathan had suddenly appeared next to me. Shrieking in surprise I tried to run away, but he was too quick. Seizing me by my injured arm, he rooted me to the spot, pain bursting like an explosion throughout my arm. He was squeezing me so tight I thought I would faint with the pain and I collapsed on my knees to the ground, hot tears streaming down my face.

"Hmph," I could just hear Nathan's voice above the roaring of the battle still raging on. "You're so pitiful. Just like your father."

Nathan's words stung like a flock of angry Beedrill. "No…!" I protested weakly. "Nathan…!"

"Finish her, Arceus. This girl has interfered with us too long."

"No! No, Arceus, please!" I begged as the giant Pokemon turned back to me. Tears were running down my face and sobs penetrated my every breath. I was so scared! "Please, Arceus! I know you can hear me! I know you understand what I'm saying! You have to stop this! You don't _have _to listen to this man!"

But I could see the swirling, pulsating ball of energy starting to grow at the back of the Arceus's throat. I knew instantly if that thing hit me, I was dead.

"Arceus!" I tried again. "Please! Please, you don't have to do this! You can stop this! I know you don't want to listen to him! I know you don't want to hurt innocent humans! I know you don't want to see all these Pokemon fighting! I don't want to see it either! So please! I know you can break free from him! You're _stronger _than this, Arceus!"

"Kill the girl, Arceus!" Nathan's piercing voice rang in my ears.

"SIENNA!" I heard someone scream my name.

I dove forwards, running straight towards the giant Arceus. It began to bellow with rage as I got closer and closer, firing off thin beams in every direction. How, in my addled state, I was able to keep avoiding them, I still to this day can not explain. I threw myself at the feet of the Arceus, gripping on to its massive legs. The Arceus roared in outrage as soon as I came into contact with it, lifting its giant foot (and me along with it) and swinging it vigorously back and forth, trying to shake me off. But I wouldn't let go! There was no way in _hell _I was going to let go!

"Sienna, what the hell are you doing!" I heard someone scream as my vision became a blur of colour and motion, and my body was rocked back and forth violently. I recognised the male voice but it was impossible for me to determine who it was!

"S…stop this, Arceus! Please!"

My injured arm burned with the pain of having to hold on to Arceus, but I still was able to cling on, probably fuelled by a late burst of adrenaline. But the Arceus, growing ever angrier quickly started to resort to other methods, and suddenly blasts were whipping downwards, some of them missing me by centimetres! Moments later, with one final swing that I was not expecting, my hands loosened from around the Arceus's leg and I was sent flying.

As I sailed through the air, I felt like I was in some strange kind of limbo. I waited, tensing my body in expectation for the crash as I hit the ground, anticipating the pain it would bring. But it didn't happen. Instead, my body hit something soft and I fell to the ground slowly, on top of something warm and soft like a plush mattress.

"Sienna? Are you okay?"

A rough, masculine voice was in my ear, and strong hands were pushing me forward to a sitting position. I slowly opened my eyes, my body weak and limp, my blurry vision slowly clearing. I could make out a hazy face. It was…

"Dad?"

"Sienna, what the hell are you playing at!"

"Dad!" I gasped, staggering to my feet, but wobbling ominously. "What the hell…!"

"Sienna, what are you doing! You're injured! You can't take on this Arceus! What the hell is wrong with you!"

"I have to do something!" I insisted, tearing myself away as he tried to grab me. "I can't just stand here and do nothing!"

"Damn it, Sienna!" he yelled. "You're a fool! If you insist on interfering so much you're going to get yourself _killed_!"

"I can't let him get away with this!"

"You foolish girl!" Dad yelled, suddenly gripping my by the arms, sending spasms of pain through my body. "No cause is worth dying for!"

"We're talking about the whole _world_ here, dad! I'd _rather _be dead then live in a world with him lording it over!" I screamed, gesturing in the direction of Nathan.

"I won't let you do this, Sienna! Not after everything I went through to keep you safe! I… I won't… I won't let you throw your life away!"

His words made me stop, despite myself. He was looking at me intensely, and all I managed to do was stutter at him in a shocked reply. "Wh… what?"

"Well, well, well!" Nathan boomed from nearby, and I twisted around to see him standing beside Arceus. "Look at this…" he smiled, a softer, yet teasing tone, taking over his voice. "How sweet… the estranged father and daughter, together at last, reconciled. And just in time too…"

"Nathan…" Dad said warningly.

"As sweet as it was, Cal, for you to try and protect your daughter, I'm afraid we have a bit of an issue here. You said it yourself; she has interfered far too much in this operation. She must be disposed of! Permanently!"

"You lay a finger on her and I'll—"

"You'll _what_, Cal?" Nathan interrupted coldly. "I don't believe you hold any authority in this organization anymore. In fact, I don't think I have any further use for you at all… You know my opinion on traitors…" he delivered the last sentence with ominous finality.

"Nathan!"

"Arceus… kill them both!"

As the Arceus turned on both me and my father, he did something he had never done before. He grabbed me and pulled me behind him, positioning his body in a defensive stance, almost like he was shielding me. I realised what he was doing with an almighty shock to my system. He was trying to protect me! I couldn't believe it! My _father _was trying to shield me from the Arceus!

But then, a strange, alien thought was inspired in me. I don't know where it came from and I certainly don't know why I acted on it. Overpowered with a deep sense of injustice, inspired by my dad's protective display, I ripped away from my father's grasp. My father exclaimed in surprise when I darted in front of him, spread my arms wide and faced the oncoming Arceus straight on.

"Sienna!" I heard an array of screams echo all around me.

Ignoring the angered, panicked and urgent protesting all around me, I tried once more to appeal to the Arceus. "No! I won't let you do this, Arceus!" I focused on meeting the Arceus straight in the eye. The words were spilling out of my mouth without me even thinking about them. "You can kill me if you want! I… I guess I deserve it after all! I've been so stupid! I was supposed to stop this all! Now look at this! You and all the Legendaries are caught! Nathan's gonna get away with everything! Everything! And it's my fault! But I won't let you kill my father!"

I heard my father exclaim in shock. Even I didn't know what I was saying or even_ why _I was saying it. It was like some external force had invaded my body, taken control of my mouth and was making me say all these things without my permission!

"You can kill me if you want! But not my dad! Even after everything's he done, all the terrible things… he only did it to protect me all those years ago! I… I can't tell you what that means to me!"

My father was yelling so loudly at me now, suddenly right beside me, his eyes wide with panic. "Sienna, what are you doing?"

I ignored him, finding myself now screaming at the Arceus that had come to a curious stop. My voice seemed to rise higher and louder than I ever would have thought. Even as I shouted, my panic and desperation were building. I had to stop Arceus from killing my father! I had to get it out of the trance it was in! I just_ had _to get through to it! Somehow! "I won't let you kill him, Arceus!"

"Don't listen to the girl, Arceus!" I heard Nathan shout, with an uncharacteristic trace of panic to his voice. "Kill them! Kill them both!"

Letting out a roar, the Arceus straightened itself up, meeting me straight in the eye. For one breathless moment, I dared to hope that something had stirred in it and it had come to its senses. Unfortunately, it hadn't. It pawed the ground, let out a vicious snort, tensed backwards, and then pushed itself into a run! It was speeding straight towards us! I let out a shriek of fear, wanting to do nothing but run away, but I forced myself to stay stock-still, my arms spread. I squeezed my eyes shut, not wanting to look anymore.

"_Please Arceus…" _I prayed. "_Don't do this… please_!"

I braced myself, waiting for the impact, feeling the rush of winds on my body. I could hear people screaming my name constantly. They were panicked, urgent voices… I could feel a blast of hot wind radiating into my body, hear all manners of screams, both Pokemon and human and I surrendered myself, waiting for everything to end to a backdrop of panicked yelling and screaming.

But then everything became calm.

I was aware of a presence directly in front of me.

I opened my eyes.

I was looking straight in the face of Arceus.

For that moment, everything seemed to slow completely down. I found myself very aware of every tiny body movement of mine _and _of everyone around me. The Arceus's eyes were wide and expressive, no longer angered slits. They were deep and beautiful, and as I stared straight at them, I felt like I could just be absorbed into them. I felt, if I just stared into them long enough I would know the answers to all the world's questions. They were such wise, old eyes, like they had been around forever, seen everything. But then, I realised, they probably had. Just like what had happened with Groudon, I felt like the Arceus was staring straight through into my soul, scrutinizing my very _being._

And then, words rang inside my head. "_Thank you._"

Before I could contemplate the confusing words, or even wonder where the words had _come _from, the Arceus drew away from me, rearing up high on its hind legs and let out an ear-splitting roar. I saw Nathan break into a run, but only a few paces in, I saw the four purple patterned Pokeballs in his hands suddenly mysteriously ignite! Screaming, as the flames licked his fingers and hands, he instinctively tossed them away. As soon as the four purple patterned Pokeballs hit the ground, they exploded! Pieces of shattered Pokeball, still flaming, flew off in every direction. All of a sudden, the Groudon, Kyogre and Rayquaza froze, looking around like they were confused. Even the Pokemon attacking them stopped, looking at the legendaries inquisitively. All the trainers came to a stop as the Arceus let out another bone-chilling roar, bringing everyone to its attention. Even Nathan, who had sunk to the floor, looking in terror at the pieces of broken Pokeball, raised his head up.

"Insolent human!" The Arceus bellowed and my heart leapt! Arceus was free! Somehow he had broken free of Nathan's command! "What you have done today… is nothing short of unspeakable! You have committed a crime of true, despicable heinousness! How _dare _you attempt to bring these Pokemon under your control?"

"How…how did you…?" Nathan babbled, completely struck dumb and visibly quivering in fear of the sight of the released Arceus. His shaking hands attempted to grab another purple patterned Pokeball, but this one met with the same fate as the others.

"What you have done can not go unpunished!" The Arceus decided. "I must pass judgement upon you to prevent this ever happening again!"

"No! No! No!" Nathan suddenly screamed, getting to his feet. Even I stood there, my heart in my mouth, wondering what the hell the Arceus was going to do.

"This is a crime so terrible that it can only be punished with a sentence of the same severity!" The Arceus boomed. "I sentence you… to death!"

The word sent peals of terror even through _my _body, so I could only imagine how terrified that Nathan must have felt. Thoughts immediately rampaged through my head. "_Arceus is going to _kill _Nathan? Is that… is that really justice? Does killing Nathan really make everything okay? I know he did awful things… but he doesn't deserve to _die! _I…I can't stand here and let a man be killed right in front of me!"_

"Arceus, no!" I stepped out away from my father and faced the Arceus straight on. What felt like a million pairs of eyes rested on me, making me feel horribly nervous and foolish. The Arceus, looking slightly annoyed at being interrupted, slowly turned to look at me, his eyes inquiring.

"You object to my sentence?" he asked me slowly.

"I do!" I nodded vehemently. "I mean… I know what this man did was wrong! Completely and utterly wrong! But does that really mean he has to die?"

The Arceus was silent.

"Too many people have suffered and died because of this whole thing already…" I continued sadly. "We can't keep breeding more pain and suffering like this."

"But he cannot go unpunished!" Arceus insisted.

"He won't go unpunished!"

I heard voices from nearby and saw my mother, plus Lance and Wallace approaching us. Lance and Wallace motioned to some Pokemon nearby, and a Charizard and a Tyranitar forcibly seized Nathan. Nathan protested loudly and ferociously, but the Charizard and Tyranitar, over orders from Lance held him tight.

"I can assure you," my mother was speaking to the Arceus now, not even the slightest bit intimidated of him. She didn't even look _bothered _she was talking to the most powerful Pokemon in existence. "This man's deeds will not go unpunished. He will probably spend the rest of his life behind bars."

The Arceus snorted. He looked down upon me. "Does this punishment suit you? After everything he's done, you think a mere _prison sentence _will suffice?"

I winced at his tone. "Well… well, no. Not really… but saying that, I don't think he deserves to be _killed _or anything like that… if he dies… and we allow you to kill him…" I looked up to meet the Arceus straight in the eye. "Then we're just as bad as he is,"

The Arceus made a strange sort of noise I thought could have been a laugh, before his eyes widened and softened again. "You are a surprising girl, Sienna Volbeda."

I didn't know how to take that so I stayed quiet.

"Ordinarily, I would punish this human," Arceus turned to look at Nathan who flinched as soon as its eyes touched on him. "But, I cannot ignore the fact that had it not been for you," he looked back at me. "Had it not been for you reaching out to me, I would not have been able to break free from the binds that restrained me. Your sacrificial nature… your willingness to give up your own life to protect the life of your father, even after all the wrong he had subjected you to… your insistence that the legendaries did not belong in the hands of humans… your determination to put a stop to the injustice… it is inspiring. And so, I shall grant your request and spare this human's life."

"Arceus…" I blushed, suddenly feeling foolish, but at the same time my heart was swelling with pride at this unexpected praise. "Thank you…"

"For now, I shall depart this world," Arceus said, his voice so strangely calm and reassuring, a world away from the bellowing, terror-inspiring voice he had spoken with earlier. "I shall take the other Legendaries with me and they will be returned to their rightful homes. Perhaps, with time, this horrible business shall be forgotten. I will entrust care of _that one_," his eyes narrowed dangerously as they passed over Nathan. "To you," he finished gravely.

"You can count on us," my mum said firmly.

"I can see that I can trust you all," Arceus said, before his voice hardened again. "And let it be known, that if anyone _ever _attempts to capture the legendaries like this again, I will _not _be so forgiving next time! Had it not been for Sienna's plight," he looked at me. "This could have worked out _very _differently. The whole world owes its thanks to you, Sienna, even if they do not realise it. I know that I most definitely do."

I turned to my right and was shocked to see my mum, the Gym Leaders, the trainers, Nikki, Jasmine and Elliot all beam at me. A furious blush reddened my face and I looked down at the ground, feeling awkward. I started scuffing my feet, finding myself horribly embarrassed to have everyone looking at me. It was only then that realization came to me. It was all over now… I had done it. The danger had passed. Nathan had been stopped. Arceus and the legendaries had been saved and were free again. But I found no excitement or thrill from it for some weird reason. It was like the idea was just words in my head, with no meaning behind it for the real world as yet. Looking back on it now, I realise I was probably just feeling numb and still in shock.

"I shall leave you all now," Arceus's words cut through my thoughts and as I looked up to meet his eyes, I felt a peculiar sadness resonate through my body.

I watched in amazement as a pale blue, glimmering light engulfed Arceus's body. We heard confused yelps from nearby, and twisting around, I saw the same shimmering light surround Groudon, Rayquaza and Kyogre. The Legendary Pokemon did not fight or protest, in fact they stayed completely still as they looked upon Arceus with what I would have thought as respect and admiration. Then, with a flash of that pale wintry blue light, the three Pokemon disappeared, one-by-one. Awed exclamations sounded all around us at this amazing display.

"Wow…" I said softly, looking up at the Arceus. It returned my gaze, then flashed me what I could have sworn was a wink. Gasping in surprise, I watched as the pale blue light intensified until it was almost blinding.

"Farewell, humans."

With a sudden flash of pale blue light that completely obstructed my vision, I knew that the Arceus had left. Once the light paled, and then disappeared, I was proved right. Arceus was gone.

"_We will meet again._"

"The hell!" I gasped, looking around at everyone else, trying to spot any indication that they had heard that voice too. But they were all calmly looking at the spot Arceus had previously stood, coming out of their astonishment and exchanging words with those who stood beside them.

"_No-one else heard that voice…_" I thought to myself in shock. "_It's the same voice that said "thank you" to me when Arceus got all up close. Could that mean… could that mean that _that _was Arceus? You're kidding me… Arceus was communicating with me telepathically? But…he said "we will meet again"… What the hell does that mean?_"

"Sienna!"

A voice cut through me and I looked up to find myself staring at Elliot. I blinked in surprise. I had almost forgotten that anyone else was here. "El…Elliot?"

"Hey," he said, smiling. "Looks like…" he started to chuckle, his eyes sparkling. "Looks like it's all over,"

"Yeah." I replied, feeling completely overwhelmed. "Looks like it's all over…"

And then he reached out and took my hand.

The feeling of his warm fingers in mine made my heart flutter. But I had no time to think about it. From nearby, my mother broke away from the formation, shouting my father's name. I held my breath as my mother walked straight past me, coming to an abrupt stop in front of my father. I watched her expression change from angry, to what looked like resounding sadness, and then it was like she forced herself to become firm again. "I'm sorry, Cal. You realise I have to take you in as well."

"I understand, Suzanne." My dad said softly, and I watched as my mum forcibly had to restrain the tears. Sadness stabbed my heart and I knew that my mum, as much as she probably hated to admit it, was very probably still in love with him, even after everything he had put her through.

I had to turn away as Lance's Dragonite came along to restrain my father. To distract me, Elliot pulled on my hand and we began to walk.

"Everyone, let's get out of here!" Wallace's voice rose up above the soft chattering.

It was a strange, sombre atmosphere that engulfed us all as we slowly climbed towards the exit of Mt Chimney. The only tiny bit of happiness that came from anyone was the smiles that Jasmine and Nikki flashed me as they joined up with me and Elliot. I could only half-heartedly return them. It was bizarre. I had just managed to stop Nathan from his attempts at ruling the world. Arceus had been freed and so had the other legendaries. Nathan was in our custody, and I had fulfilled what Alakazam had said I was destined to do. I had just, effectively, saved the world, not to sound big-headed!

So why did I feel so goddamned sad?

It was like everyone else there had picked up on that atmosphere too, and we walked in muffled silence. I turned to see my father, in the watchful restraints of the Dragonite, approach me.

"Sienna?" he ventured, his normally gruff face softening. "I'm… I'm sorry."

"Yeah," I said, his words making me feel like I wanted to burst into tears. "I'm sorry too."

He stopped in his tracks then, the Dragonite baying uncomfortably as he came to an unexpected halt. If I had not been so preoccupied, I would have noticed Nathan somehow (as he was still in the control of the Charizard and Tyranitar) inch closer to where we were standing. We didn't notice him until it was too late…

"You traitor, Cal!" he screamed, making us all jump, whip around and look at him. "You traitor! This is all your fault!"

"Nathan!" my father gasped.

I don't to this day know how Nathan pulled this off, but I could only watch in horror as Nathan somehow ripped himself free from his restraints and pull out a Pokeball. "Samurott! That man has to _die!_"

As a Pokemon I had never seen before erupted from the Pokeball, fear and terror ripped through me like a knife. With a blast of water, the Dragonite holding my father was knocked aside as easily as if it was a ragdoll. My father's hand instinctively went to his belt, but his fingers grasped around thin air. He had no Pokemon to defend himself with! The Charizard and Tyranitar regained their hold on Nathan, but it was too late. He had already screamed the order for the Samurott to use Slash! That move, on an unarmed, defenceless human would _kill _them!

"No! No, dad! Look out!"

I don't know what made me do it. Like everything else I had done the past few hours, I seemed to act totally on instinct alone, like my body and mind weren't one and the same anymore. Tearing myself away from Elliot, even despite his frantic, terror-filled screams, I threw myself directly in the path of the oncoming attack. Before I even realised what I had just done, a sharp blade pierced my skin and ripped straight through me, sending white hot streaks of pain reverberating up and down my body. The blade, or whatever it was, seemed to embed itself in my flesh, and I could feel it tug and jerk, slicing open and through my skin and flesh even more. The sounds of screams filled my ears but I could not be sure if they were mine or someone else's.

The blade eventually dislodged, only to slice straight across my lower torso. I felt warm liquid gushing down my stomach, soaking my body through. I was hit again in my ribs, feeling pain explode across the affected area.

"AMPH!"

I heard the unmistakable crackling of thunder and just through my blackened, blurry vision I could make out the unfamiliar Pokemon be wracked with a vicious electrical attack and falling to the floor. A yellow shape bounded across the cave, coming close to me, baying worriedly. Meloi. It could only be her, after all.

"_Good… good work, Meloi_…" I found myself thinking, before I was aware of my body slowly falling to the ground.

I had hoped the pain would lessen as I hit the ground. However, it only seemed to get worse. The pain exploded in bursts and cascaded down my body, intensifying with every second that I lay there until it was almost unbearable. My vision was alternating, blurring, darkness gathering at the corners of my eyes, and I felt so goddamned tired.

I remember lying there for a few seconds, feeling weak, dizzy and tired, and the pain coursing through my body. I think I was aware of what had happened to me, but I hadn't really made the connection fully and understood the implications of it. I remember feeling strangely calm and serene as I could just see the almost flawless blue sky through the hole in the cavern roof. The sun was shining. I could feel the warmth on my skin.

"_What pretty weather…_" I found myself thinking.

But then, just in my earshot I could hear someone constantly shouting my name. Sienna! Sienna! Sienna! Just like that. But it was hazy, fading in and out, like when you were trying to tune in a faulty television set.

A face darted into my vision. I found it almost impossible to make out the finer details, but whoever it was; I knew it was a guy. I vaguely made the connection then that it was the same person who had been shouting my name earlier. I could see a mass of brown. Brown hair, maybe? And green. Piercing green…

"Sienna… Sienna, please!"

He was speaking again, but the sound was getting further and further away. Next thing I knew, to my surprise, I felt something wet splashing on my face. But I didn't even have the energy to reach up and wipe away whatever it was.

"Oh God, Sienna… please! Please! Don't do this to me!"

Other faces slowly surrounded my vision, just as the first one suddenly moved in closer. I felt a soft pressure come down on my lips, then a few more splashes of that weird wetness.

Feeling all of a sudden very calm and very peaceful, I surrendered my body to the pain and was elated when I experienced a sort of floating sensation, the pain slipping almost completely away. I was left feeling like I was caught in a limbo, almost like I was flying through the air. The darkness engulfed me and I felt like I simply slipped away into a deep, beautiful, relaxing sleep.

* * *

**Author's Note**

**Well, this is it. The penultimate chapter of Spirited. Just a warning, even *I* have no idea what the outcome of this is gonna be... been working on a few endings, some happy, some not-so-happy...**

**I would love it if you all could vote on the "Which is your favourite protagonist" poll on my profile, so I can see what characters have been well recieved and which ones haven't. There's also some awesome character facts there too!**

**Thanks all go to my awesome, regular reviewers! Pokybyte, Manser77, annabelle the raikou, TwewyReaperGirl, eeveelutionluvr, ArchXDeath, WOWfan123, splashtorm aaaaand Kai-chan94! Please all be kind to me at the end of the story! :) **

**Please read and review!**


	54. That's the Spirit!

All I knew at first was pain.

My entire body burned with it. Even breathing proved excruciating. I didn't even want to open my eyes – even _they _hurt. My limbs felt heavy, like they weighed a ton each and I didn't dare move them in case the white hot pain came back…

Instead of focusing on the pain, I tried to focus on what I could hear instead. My hearing was fuzzy at first, and there was a dull roaring in my ears, like I was submerged underwater. After a while, I discovered I could hear regular beeping, very faint and far off in the distance. I could hear the rhythmic slow sounds of my own breathing. I could feel a very light breeze tickling my face. And I could hear talking. I could _definitely _hear talking. Low, hushed voices fading in and out of my earshot. I wanted to know who was there…

I focused very hard on opening my eyes. It took a long time. Pain burned through them, my eyelids felt like they had been fused together with something sticky and they did _not _want to open at all.

Eventually, I managed it. But at first, all I could see was white. Such white, bright light that I immediately closed my eyes again. It took a few cautious tries of open-close, open-close to finally get used to the brightness.

My sight was blurry, at first. I could make out some shadowy, dark brown things and a cluster of pink and red blurry splodges to my right. I blinked a few times, trying to clear my vision and I realised I was looking at a small mahogany dresser and a vase of cheerful, pink carnations.

"_Carnations…?_ _I… I like carnations…_"

I attempted to move my head, but it felt heavy and strange, so instead, I moved my eyes as far as I could manage. There was nothing else interesting in the room. Just white walls. They looked almost clinical.

I wanted to sit up. I tried to move my lower torso, attempting to get enough momentum to shimmy up, but the slightest movement sent pain rocketing through my whole body. I inadvertently let out a low groan as I did so, and all of a sudden, I heard a voice screaming to my right.

"She's awake! She's come round!"

I couldn't even turn my head to acknowledge where the voice was. But all of a sudden, a face came into my view. At the sight of the face, I managed to let out one little croak.

"M…mum?"

Her eyes filled with tears and she reached out her hand. I felt her cold fingers rub across my warm face. "Hey baby…"

"Wh…where am I?"

"In the hospital, sweetheart…" she whispered, her voice cracking. "Do you remember what happened?"

I thought about it, but my memory was fuzzy. A few hazy details came back to me. Arceus? Nathan? Dad? And pain? I knew they all alluded to something far bigger, but I couldn't grasp the finer details. "Kind… kind of." I said truthfully.

"Well, you did a very brave thing, darling, do you remember?"

It took me a while to remember, but when I did, it came back in one horrible, terrifying flashback. I remembered what Nathan had done. I remembered how he had set that strange Pokemon on my father. My heart began thudding and I felt my body begin to seize up as I recalled what I had done. I had thrown myself into the path of that Pokemon's line of fire, taking the hit that had been intended for my father. I remembered the pain… Oh God, that horrendous pain. Even now every inch of my body stung and ached. I could remember the murderous look in that Pokemon's eyes at it had attacked me. I could still feel the echo of the sharp, blade like thing ravage my body. I wanted to sink my head into my hands and bawl like a newborn baby, but my arms were so sore I couldn't even raise them. But it still didn't stop me from bursting into tears.

"Oh, sweetheart! It's going to be okay, I promise you!" Mum sounded like she was close to tears herself. "You're in the hospital; the doctors are taking really good care of you! And I'm here for you too…"

"It just hurts…" I sobbed.

"I know, baby, I know." She said, sounding tearful. "You were hurt so bad by that Nathan's Samurott. You've been unconscious for a week. Your poor arms and body are so cut up…"

It was only then that I noticed, _really noticed_, the state I was in. My arms and upper torso were covered in stiff, puffy bandages crisscrossing across my body. The bandages were bound tight, and the blood that was seeping through the white material was fresh. I visibly shuddered. If I really had been out for a week… I shouldn't still be bleeding…

"Am I… Am I gonna be okay?" I asked her softly.

"You're gonna be fine," Mum said, this time a little firmer. "Your wounds are just taking a while to heal, that's all. The stitches keep bursting when you move, but it'll heal within time, I promise you."

I let out a slow sigh of relief, but all that did was make my body seize up with pain again. As I grimaced and groaned with the pain burning through me, my mother was making a strange face. When the pain eventually subsided briefly and I was able to relax somewhat, she immediately began to question me, this time her voice taking on a hardened edge. "Sienna… I… I just can't believe what you did. What were you _thinking_?"

"When I saved Dad?" At least talking was distracting me from the pain.

She nodded wordlessly.

"I… I don't know…" I said truthfully. But then, at the mention of his name, a panicked thought struck me. "Dad!" I cried. "Is Dad… is Dad all right?"

Mum looked uncomfortable at the question, but she nodded all the same. "_He's_ just fine. Well… physically…"

"Physically…?" I asked warily, another burst of pain searing through me, making me wince.

Mum pinched the bridge of her nose, looking for the second time like she was about to cry. "He's… he's in prison, Sienna."

The news didn't surprise me, but I felt a sharp twang of resonating sadness at her words. I found myself wanting to say so much, ask so much, but at the same time, something told me that now was definitely not the time. Letting out a long sigh, I remembered there was someone else I had to enquire after. "And Nathan…?"

"In prison too." Mum replied, hesitantly. "He… he won't be getting out for a long time,"

"Mmm…" I murmured. "That's good. At least he can't hurt anyone else anymore."

Before mum could reply to me, another panicked thought struck me. "Mum! What about my Pokemon! And Elliot! And Nikki and Jasmine?"

"They're all just fine, darling." Mum reassured me softly. "Your Pokemon are waiting for you at home with the Professor. And your friends have barely left your side the past week."

"Really…?" I breathed out, all of a sudden feeling tremendously overwhelmed and touched at this.

"Yes. They're all good kids. Really good kids,"

I found myself smiling at this. "Yeah. Yeah they are…"

There was a silence, before I dared to ask. "When can I go home?"

Mum gave a start. It was clear that was a question she had not been expecting so soon. I mean, it must have been pretty mental, me asking when I can go home when it was so obvious that it wouldn't be anytime soon. I mean, I was in the hospital for goodness sake! I had injuries that were severe enough to keep me unconscious for a week! Added to my physical state, my _mental _state probably wasn't all that brilliant either. Everything was just overwhelming. I had just stopped an evil organization from capturing _Legendary Pokemon_! I had freed _Arceus _for goodness sake! And in doing so, I had been mauled, almost _killed _by a vicious Pokemon! It was glaringly obvious I wasn't getting out of here anytime soon. But I still wanted to know.

"Not for quite some time, sweetie," mum said delicately.

"God!" I said with exasperation. "I… I don't wanna be stuck in this hospital!"

"Sienna, do you know how badly you were hurt!" mum demanded, making me jump and subsequently yelp in pain. "What you did… interfering like that… it almost _killed _you!"

The finality of her words hit me hard. I had almost _died._ A terrible shudder ran through me and fresh tears began to drip down my face. When I thought about how close I was to losing my life… it was so scary. "I'm sorry, mum…" I whispered.

Mum sighed. "I'm sorry too, baby. I just… it's just… the thought of losing you… the thought of losing you just scares me so much. What you did was so brave and so amazing, but… God, I wish you hadn't done it!"

"Dad would have died if I hadn't done what I did." I had to point out.

"I would have preferred he did than you. I'll never forgive him for letting you get hurt like that. That man is an animal! I can't believe I ever married him! The things he did in that organization… the way he treated us both… I wish _he _had been the one to die!"

"But he's your husband!" I insisted, horrified. I had never heard my mum wish harm on _anyone _before.

"And you're my _daughter_." She said firmly. "My beautiful, brave, amazing daughter…"

"Mum, please…" I cringed.

"Oh, Sienna…" Mum whispered. She forced out a humourless chuckle. "You know… you know your father said something to me just before they took him away to prison."

I blinked, in the face of this sudden change in conversation. "What…?" I asked slowly.

A strange look passed over mum's face. "He said…" she broke off, and I saw tears glittering in her eyes. "He said he was proud of you, Sienna."

"Proud of me…?" I repeated, double checking that I had heard her correctly.

"Yes." She nodded.

"Wow…" I couldn't think of any other response, my heart suddenly feeling warm and happy, but at the same time, an icy sadness threatening to overturn it. "What… what else did he—?"

But before I could say anything else, I was cut off by a frantic knocking at the door, startling both Mum and I. A voice began shouting from the other side of the door. With amazement, I recognised it as Jasmine's voice!

"Mrs Volbeda! We heard from the nurse Sienna is awake! Can we please see her?"

Mum looked at me inquiringly. I nodded slowly.

"Just a moment, Jasmine!" she called back, before turning back to me. "Your friends have been out of their mind with worry for you. I'll leave you with them for a while. But I'll back soon. The nurses will be coming to change your bandages and give you painkillers soon,"

"Thank God." I managed to chuckle, but instantly wished I hadn't when the pain shot through me again.

"I'll see you later, darling." Mum said, standing up to leave. "I love you,"

"Love you too, mum." I said.

With that, my mum left the room, closing the door behind her. I heard her speaking and three other urgent voices all talking over each other. My heart leapt in my chest. Seconds later, the door burst open, spilling even more light into the room. Against the clinical white background of the hospital corridor, I made out Jasmine's figure at the door.

"Sienna!" She gasped.

"Jazz?"

"Oh my God, you're really all right!" she cried, suddenly rushing to the edge of my bed and collapsing at the end of it. When she raised her head to me again, I was shocked to see tears welling in her eyes. I couldn't believe it. Jasmine _never _cried.

"Isn't this like déjà vu," I grinned at her, but that only seemed to make things worse.

"Sienna?"

I looked away from Jasmine towards the second source of the voice and saw a red-faced Nikki with fresh tears slipping down her pretty face. She looked nervous, like she wasn't sure if she should enter the room. Her hands were wringing together in front of her body. She looked so timid and shy… just like always.

"It's okay, Nikki, I really am—" I tried my best to reassure her, even though I was cut off mid-sentence by another jolt of pain.

"Oh, Sienna… you're really badly hurt…" she whispered, looking terrified.

"I'm okay, really." I lied. "It doesn't hurt that much."

She stood there looking awkward, making me feel even more uncomfortable and self-conscious with every second. Eventually, my nerves got the better of me and I had to say something. "You _can_ come in, you know."

"O…okay…" She murmured, moving away from the door and gently lowering herself into the chair next to me. I shook my head at her, before looking back at the door. I had to catch my breath as I saw who stood there this time.

"Hey, greenhorn…"

I couldn't even reply as I looked him up and down. His face was uncharacteristically red and his eyes looked puffy and sore behind his glasses. He sidled slowly into the room, looking at me like he could barely believe I was right in front of him.

And then, a memory came back to me: Elliot, standing over me as I lay injured after the Samurott's attack. I could remember seeing him, standing over me, and feeling strange drops of water hit my face. It was only then that I realised he had been crying.

My heart then shot to my mouth when I remembered what had happened next. I remembered him coming so close to my face, and then I had felt a gentle, soft pressure come down on my lips. I felt a horrible warm flush invade my face and a strange, jittery, excited feeling wash over my body. Had he… had he _kissed _me back then!

"Sienna? Are you okay?"

I gave a little start. I wasn't sure if Elliot's enquiries to my health was because of the, what I felt as extremely obvious, blush or just in general. Instead I nodded my head, trying to ignore the stabbing pains that went with it.

"How are you feeling?" he asked tentatively, pulling up a chair next to Nikki.

"Like I got mauled by a giant Pokemon!" I tried to joke, but the words got caught in my mouth and I broke off, the sobs threatening to come back again.

"Sienna!" Immediately, Jasmine and Nikki were by my side again. "It's gonna be okay!" Jasmine told me whilst Nikki nodded as firmly as she could.

"Thanks guys…" I whispered.

"Everything's over now," Jasmine said. "Nathan's in prison," I noticed she didn't mention my father. "The organization's disbanded, the Legendaries are safe and everything's going back to normal. You did it, Sienna!"

I felt a smile spread across my face. It tugged at the corners of my mouth, and no matter how hard I tried to fight it, it still beat me. I found myself slowly sink back into the plumped up pillows, feeling a strange sense of relaxation spread over me. I looked up at Nikki and Jasmine, who seeing my smile, broke out into wide grins too. A strange, bizarre, amazing, incredible thought came to my head. I chuckled to myself. It was unbelievable really.

I, Sienna Volbeda, had saved the bloody world!

I found myself looking across at Elliot. He was sitting stiffly in his chair, his head bowed and his hands firmly in his lap. Even when I looked at him long enough for Jasmine and Nikki to realise I was staring at him, he still didn't look up. I felt sadness stabbing at my heart, wondering why he was acting so strangely. As I contemplated that, Jasmine and Nikki exchanged looks and then unanimously stood up.

"Guys…?" I ventured worriedly.

Jasmine looked pointedly at Nikki, who was blushing a little. Getting no response from Nikki, Jasmine continued to stare at her expectantly, making her begin to stammer and stutter nervously. Letting out a haughty sigh, Jasmine all of a sudden elbowed Nikki in the ribs! Nikki let out a little squeak, snapping into her senses. She closed her eyes, her face screwing up, and let out a nervous squeal of "I want to go to the cafeteria!"

I blinked. "O…okay…?"

"Yeah, we're going to get a quick bite to eat," Jasmine said, standing up, forcibly taking Nikki by the arm. "But we'll be back soon."

"Will you be okay by yourself?" Elliot suddenly came into the conversation, standing up expectantly.

"We'll be just fine!" Jasmine said, putting more emphasis on the words than I considered normal. "You stay here and keep an eye on Sienna, okay? We'll be back soon!"

"_Oh no…_" I panicked internally as I eventually figured out what they were doing. "_They're trying to find an excuse to leave me and Elliot alone! The bitches!_ _What the hell am I going to _say _to Elliot? I can't bring up what happened when I got hurt! What if I'm getting the totally wrong idea? What if he _didn't _kiss me? I can't say he did when there was a chance he didn't! He wouldn't have, anyway. Why would he kiss me? It wasn't like it was Sleeping Beauty or anything like that…_"

With that, Jasmine and Nikki made a hastened exit, leaving me and Elliot alone. Letting out a long sigh, Elliot crossed to close the door that they had left open in their hurry. I looked down quickly, suddenly feeling horribly nervous.

"Your friends aren't exactly subtle," he pointed out.

I had to chuckle, but my heart was still beating rapidly in my chest. I was suddenly painfully aware that I was hooked up to a heart monitor that was starting to beep faster. Cursing, I tried to calm myself down. "Y…yeah. Subtlety definitely isn't their strong point…"

Elliot made a noise that could have been a laugh, before a silence elapsed over us. The only noise came from the beep of my heart monitor, and the gentle hum of the machines in the room. The silence was crushing. I wanted to break it so much, but I found myself feeling so conscious of anything I could say. Anything I wanted to say, when I ran it over in my head, sounded so stupid and insignificant. What_ could_ I say in the face of everything that had just happened?

"Elliot…"

"Sienna!"

The silence had obviously gotten the better of us at the same time, as we spoke in unison. Blushing fiercely, I inclined my head again, feeling foolish. "S…sorry!"

"No, I'm the one who's sorry…" Elliot sighed.

I looked up to him. I was shocked to see tears dripping down his face. My heart surged. "Elliot! What's the matter?"

"I just… I just wish I could have…"

"Could have what?" I inquired, desperately wishing I could just get out of that stupid hospital bed and go to him.

"I just wish I could have protected you back then…"

I frowned. "Back _when_?"

"When you threw yourself in front of that Samurott!" Elliot said tearfully. "I was right there! I should have stopped you! Then you wouldn't be like this!"

"Elliot," I said softly, completely at a loss. "What I did back then… it was my own decision! I wanted to save my dad! You weren't responsible for my actions!"

"That's what Nikki and Jasmine keep telling me," Elliot said sadly, looking away. "But… but I can't believe that because _I_ was so stupid, we almost lost you Sienna…"

"I'm fine, though, Elliot…" I insisted feebly.

"But you very easily _couldn't _have been!" he said indignantly. "God! If… if you had died… I would never have forgiven myself!"

"Elliot, please!" I said, hating seeing him like this. I had never seen him this emotional before. I mean, yes, I had seen him cry when Lance had defeated him in the Pokemon League. But back then, he had already seemed resigned to his fate, and his tears were tears of disappointment. But this… this was totally different… these were tears of pure grief. And I couldn't understand why…why he was so upset over _me_!

"Elliot, please, don't cry," I said, my voice catching as I spoke. "I'm not worth crying over. I'm fine, honestly, I'm just fine!"

Elliot looked at me as if I was mad. "Not worth crying over?" he repeated shrilly. "Of course you're worth crying over, Sienna! Of _course _I'm gonna cry over you, I lo—" he stopped, suddenly looking horrified. He took a moment to gather his thoughts, and then looked at me again. "I mean… you're too… you're too important to me and to everyone else here," he added that bit a little too quickly for my liking. "To just die like that…" he concluded.

I didn't know what to say, so feeling disappointed, I looked back down to the bedclothes, pretending to be fascinated by the patterns. There was another long silence.

"Sienna," Elliot ventured a few moments later. "I'm… I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say it like that. I was just… I was just scared. When I saw you lying there unconscious… I was so scared you were going to die…"

"I know," I said. "I know you were upset. I… I can remember it."

"Y….you remember it…?" Elliot repeated slowly.

"I remember you were crying…" I said carefully. "You kept shouting my name."

"But… no… you were unconscious!"

"No…" I shook my head slightly. "I was still awake. Just. I… I remember everything," I said, suddenly feeling courageous, and I looked Elliot straight in the face. "Everything." I repeated.

Elliot's face dropped. "Oh God…" he sunk into the chair. "Are you talking about what I think you're talking about?"

I nodded, my heart in my mouth.

Elliot's face turned beetroot red. "Sienna… what I did…! Argh, I was just… I was just… scared! I wasn't thinking right! I don't know why I did it…"

"Well… I would have thought that you only kissed someone because you had feelings for them," I stated, trying to hold back a sob that had inexplicably risen out of nowhere.

There was a silence. I didn't dare to look up and meet him in the eye in case I would start crying again.

"Well… well there is that too,"

A dark shadow fell across the bed and I looked up to see Elliot staring down at me. He knelt down by the edge of the bed so that he was just about level with me. His green eyes were wide and warm, and I could not help but stare, transfixed, into them. "I guess I'd never thought I would have feelings for an annoying little greenhorn like you," he said with a short laugh, a wide smile spreading across his face.

My heart leapt! I couldn't believe it! I wanted to grab him, right there and then, but I forced myself to stay cool and composed. "And I guess I never expected I would like a geek like you," I replied, as calmly as I could.

A look of disbelief passed over Elliot's face, but he quickly regained himself, smiling. "Well, looks like we both surprised ourselves then."

"Well, I'll tell you what surprised _me_," I grinned, surprising myself with how daring I was becoming. He looked at me expectantly, and with a wide beaming smile, I replied with "That you were such a bad kisser!"

"What?" Elliot said shrilly, genuinely shocked.

"Come on, Elliot!" I teased him, giggling. "You and I both have to admit, that kiss was pretty bad!"

"Oh, come on! I did the best with what I had!" He protested, his flush reddening to an almost painful degree, making me giggle. He sighed and shook his head, before he met my eyes again. This time, there was a wicked grin on his face. "Besides, I can kiss a _whole _lot better than that!"

"Oh really," I said, suddenly feeling a daring nature spring up in me. "Prove it."

I expected Elliot to blush and protest, but he did nothing of the sort. He got straight to his feet, leaned in close and before I even knew what was going on, he had pressed his lips to mine. As surprised and shocked as I was at first, I wasted no time in surrendering myself to him. The kiss was so beautiful. He gently lingered on my lips, almost hesitant at first, but then gaining courage. It became smooth, sweet and sensual and I wished it never had to end. But it had to, and we broke apart, breathing heavily.

"Well?" he said smugly, his eyes shining. "How was that?"

I pretended to consider for a few moments before I shot back with "Hmm, well it's an improvement!"

"Cheeky!" Elliot fired back, but at the same time he covered his hand with mine. His touch was warm and soft, making me feel like I just wanted to melt into his arms. "Thank you," he whispered softly.

I smiled back, opening my mouth to say something, but all of a sudden the door swung open. Elliot and I looked around guiltily, his hand still over mine to see Jasmine and Nikki standing in the door. Both of them did a double take when they saw him holding my hand.

"Jeez, we leave you two alone for _two minutes _and you're all over each other!" Jasmine laughed. "Looks like you_ finally_ got brave. _Both _of you," she added, looking at me accusingly for good measure.

"Wait, are you telling me you two _knew_?" I asked, horrified.

"Sienna… how could we _not_?" Jasmine asked seriously.

"All right, all right," I laughed. "Fair enough."

"So… do you feel okay now?" Nikki asked timidly from the corner.

I took a moment to consider her question. Well, I had been involved with a terrifying plot to capture legendary Pokemon, I had been at the mercy of an Arceus, my father was in prison, I had been unconscious for a week, I was in hospital with vicious wounds and last but not least, I had almost _died. _But, on the other hand my friends, Pokemon and family were all safe. The man responsible was locked away, hopefully never to get out again. My injuries, although serious, weren't life-threatening anymore and I would get out of the hospital eventually. But most importantly, I was surrounded by my friends. My two friends that had stuck with me through thick and thin and the boy I had grown to love, and who felt the same in return.

There was nothing wrong with the world, so far as I could see.

"Yeah." I replied. "I feel great."

* * *

My recovery was slow, but steady. Within three weeks, my wounds had healed enough for my stitches to be taken out, and within the next few days, I was able to tentatively stagger around on my own two feet for the first time. By the time the fourth week came around, I was deemed well enough to go home.

Mum, Jasmine, Nikki and Elliot had stayed by my side the entire time I had been in the hospital, helping me stave away the boredom. From Mum, I learned a few things that finally helped me fill in the remaining blanks of the journey I had undertaken. One of the main issues I had had trouble figuring out was how Mum had always appeared to be one step ahead of Nathan's organization. However, it turned out that Mum, who led a team of Pokemon trainers that she had travelled with in her youth, had injected a double agent into Nathan's team when they first heard of the plot. He had taken the form of a low ranking grunt, who secretly reported back the movements of the organization. However, as it ironically turned out, he wasn't high up enough to meet the leader of the team… which could have saved us a lot of trouble, let's be honest.

I was a popular girl during my time at the hospital. I got frequent visits from Wallace, who came adorned with beautiful bouquets of flowers, (I later found out he was responsible for the vase of carnations in my hospital room) and who fussed over me like a mother hen every time he was there. Misty and Flannery popped in for a visit when my stitches had been removed, and even Lance showed his face once. However, he did just stand in a corner for most of the visit, looking relatively uncomfortable even despite Elliot's best attempts to get him to be more sociable.

Although I had my fair share of human company, unfortunately for me, my Pokemon weren't permitted to come to the hospital, so when I was finally given the all-clear to go home, I was desperate to see them. However, seeing some people meant saying goodbye to others, and it was with a heavy heart that I realised I had to bid goodbye to Nikki and Jasmine. Nikki was departing back home to Fuchsia City to see her parents, and Jasmine was heading back to her hometown of Saffron City to reassume her training. It was a tearful goodbye, and I never wanted to let them go as we stood outside the hospital the day before I was discharged. They were taking a detour on their trip back to Kanto to reconvene with Scott, so they unfortunately could not travel with us. I was distraught at this, and I felt like a part of me had left along with them when I sadly waved them off.

Me, Mum and Elliot travelled back to Pallet Town the following day. It was a long, arduous journey by ferry that I mostly slept through, waking up just in time to see the majestic region of Kanto rising up in the distance. From Vermillion to Pallet Town, we rode on Elliot's Tropius and made it home before nightfall.

Our first port of call was Professor Oak, who practically knocked me off my feet with the hug he gave me, despite my mother's panicked screams to "watch my stitches", even though they had long since healed. Once we had exchanged pleasantries, Professor Oak led me outside to get my Pokemon back. This time, I really _was _knocked off my feet as my Pokemon threw themselves straight at me. I laughed hysterically as I was covered with excited licks, head-butted, pawed, whined at and was downright made a fuss of. I grabbed each of my Pokemon in turn; hugging them so tight I thought I would squeeze the life out of them. Meloi bayed happily as I hugged her close, Aurora barked, slapping her fins together as I attempted to get my arms around her massive girth, Monty, although reluctant to get hugged allowed me to stroke him, Kiba, at my touch, slathered me in sloppy licks, Indigo hopped up and down on her strong legs, whinnying excitedly and Cairo landed on my head, buzzing joyfully.

"Oh, you guys…" I grinned, looking at all my beautiful Pokemon. "_My Spirited Six… I couldn't even have asked for a better team._"

* * *

Things slowly began to return to normal for me. Well, as normal as living with six spirited Pokemon could get. My daily routine that once normally consisted of lounging about watching television and finding every excuse possible to avoid helping mum with her Pokemon rapidly changed. Now my days consisted of getting up early every day, helping mum with the dog Pokemon, then attending to my own Pokemon for hours. We never ventured far from Pallet Town now, maybe a few trips in to Viridian, or the odd trip to Pewter if we felt brave. I met Elliot every day for a date, apart from the times he visited his brother up at the Pokemon League, and I spoke with Nikki and Jasmine every day without fail on the phone. Days passed lazily, but beautifully. I loved every minute of my new life. I could not believe how happy I was, as a trainer, and as a new woman. Part of me even found myself wishing I had taken my dad's advice all those years ago…

Dad…

I found myself in two minds about my father. On the one hand, I was sad, knowing he had only ever joined Nathan's organization to protect me and mum, and I could not help but remember how I wanted to protect him in return. On the other hand though, part of me felt that he _deserved _his two year prison sentence. What he had done, initial good intentions or no, was just downright wrong. I really wasn't sure I could forgive him for that.

I thought about dad, one dark, frosty winter morning at the beginning of December. It had been three months since I had returned home from the hospital, and almost eight months since the day I had departed on my rescue mission. I wondered what would happen once he was released from prison. What would he do, where would he go, would he come back to Kanto to see us…? I didn't know. I was almost certain though that he wouldn't go back to a life of crime. In all honesty, I think seeing Arceus like that had scared him too much.

But wait, another thought struck me. Arceus! What was it Arceus had said to me, telepathically, when he was getting ready to leave…

"_We will meet again_."

What did that mean? I pondered the question to myself, looking back at the memories I had of Arceus. It had been such an angry creature at first, adamant no trainers would ever hope to capture any legendaries again, otherwise he would not be as merciful as he had been. However, from what I had recently learned about Arceus, it would never descend to earth unless there was a very good reason for doing so. I could understand why he had intervened in Nathan's organization, but from what he had said, it sounded like, he was alluding to the fact he may need to come _back _for some reason. I came to a terrifying conclusion. If Arceus ever _was _to meet me again, would that mean something _else _terrible was going to happen! But if Arceus thought something bad was going to happen _again_, surely he would have _said _something a little more detailed?

"Amph! Amph!"

The cries of my Ampharos cut through my panicked thoughts. "Hey," I grinned, looking down at Meloi who had appeared from nowhere. She looked bleary eyed and tired, stifling a yawn as she tottered up to me. "What are you doing up so early?" I inquired.

"Amph!" she butted her head into me affectionately.

I giggled, patting her, and then looking up into the sky. It was still dark out, even for morning, a few smatterings of stars dotting the blanket of inky black. I found it strangely hypnotic, and I stared at it for a long time, trying to find the answers for all the questions I still had.

"Amph! Amph! AMPH!"

Meloi, deciding I wasn't paying her enough attention, decided to sent a few wayward sparks my way. I barely even jumped at the sparks; in fact they only tickled me slightly. I found myself laughing, for some reason recalling the beginning of my journey when I had just received Meloi as an angry, distrustful little Mareep who shocked first and asked questions later. And believe me, there had been a _lot _of shocks. But now, it was like they had no effect on me, even though Meloi was a lot stronger now. It was like we had both grown stronger together…

"We've been through a lot together, haven't we, Meloi?" I grinned at her.

"Amph! Amph!" she agreed happily.

I smiled, patting her again. "My little "spirited" one, eh? Who knew we could come this far… it's pretty amazing isn't it?"

Meloi looked at me and shrugged. "Amph…" she said flippantly, like she didn't care.

I smiled at her again, and looked back up at the stars, feeling very at peace. I had been through so much on this bizarre journey. Blood, sweat, tears, betrayals, training, more than my fair share of electric shocks, new friends, new Pokemon, Gym Battles, injuries, Legendaries, terrifying revelations, almost dying and even falling in love. I couldn't believe I had come through it all (relatively) unscathed.

"Amph!" Meloi whined, butting her head into me.

"I hear you, Meloi," I grinned.

I knelt down and pulled my Ampharos into a cuddle, burying my face in her fur. She protested at first, but then allowed me that little moment. I knew from that moment on, that no matter what life threw at me now, I would come through it, somehow or other. I mean, I had been through so much already, there wasn't likely to be anything that could knock me down _now. _But at the same time, I knew I had a pretty awesome support team behind me too. My mum, my wonderful boyfriend, my amazing friends, and my team of Pokemon. My Spirited Six, that I owed so much to. If it wasn't for them, I had a feeling I wouldn't even be here right now.

"_Thank you. All of you. I'm so blessed to have you all._" I thought to myself, feeling a little tear drip down my face and I pulled Meloi into an even tighter hug.

"AMPH!" Meloi shrieked as I squeezed her too tightly. Evidently, unimpressed, I felt an electric shock dart through my body and I fell backwards, singed.

"_Ouch… perhaps I'm not as immune to them as I thought…_" I groaned inwardly, looking up at Meloi. "Meloi, really? You can't let me have one little sentimental moment?"

"Amph!" she insisted.

"You know, you may be getting a little too bolshy for your own good!"

"Amph!" She cried indignantly, shocking me again for good measure.

I had to laugh in the face of her feistiness. I could never stay mad at her. I knew now it was just the way she showed her affection. A nostalgic thought passed through my head.

"_Well, I started out with probably the most unconventional start, unconventional Pokemon and unconventional travelling partners!_" I chuckled, giving Meloi another affectionate pat on the head "_But I wouldn't have it any other way. They made this whole journey worthwhile. And you know what, even if life decides to throw _another _stupid disaster at me, I can get through it. I know I can. We've all got the right spirit. Just goes to show you, Professor Oak had it right all those months ago. "Spirited" really is the way to go._"

Fin.

* * *

**Author's Note**

**Well, this is it. The end of Spirited.**

**I went through so many versions of this ending, from super happy, to middling, to complete devastation. I debated killing off Sienna, having her dad be released from prison and rejoining the family, Sienna getting with Elliot, Sienna **_**not **_**getting with Elliot… I swear, I must have written four alternate endings. :O**

**But I'm happy with this one.**

**I'd like to thank everyone that stuck by me on this rollercoaster ride of a fanfic. I would never have expected when I started this story almost a year ago that it would gain the popularity that it did. I never anticipated the praise I would receive. Spirited has been hailed as "one of the best stories on the archive", "brilliant", "amazing" and even "the best OC non-canon story EVER!". I swear, if I had even received a tenth of the support and praise I have gotten, I would have been more than happy. I can't honestly believe people have responded to it so well and have complimented me so much. As someone who admittedly loves writing and wants to pursue it as a career, but who suffers from terrible self esteem, hearing people calling my story "awesome" and saying that I'm "extremely talented" and a "true genius of writing" is just incredible to me. *tears up***

**Special Thanks go to:**

**Satoshi Taijiri, creator of the wonderful franchise of Pokemon.  
Syzdoth, author of Feather Head, who inspired me to write my own Pokemon fanfiction and who gave me my very first review.  
The writers of the twenty one stories I favourited. Your stories were so inspiring to me and gave me the motivation to keep on writing.  
The eighty one people who favourited this story!  
The sixty nine others who put it on alerts!  
The devoted senders of the THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY THREE reviews I have amassed so far over the year.  
And… YOU!**

**Please stay tuned for the Epilogue following soon.**

**Thank you all so much. This has been amazing.**

**OceanSpiral  
xxx**


	55. Epilogue

"_Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy birthday dear Sienna! Happy Birthday to you!"_

"You guys really are all _wonderful_ singers, you know that?" I joked, bringing my hands down from my ears once the troupe had finished belting out the birthday song at the top of their lungs. "You should go on _The X Factor_!"

"Yeah, yeah, just shut up and blow out the candles!" Jasmine practically bellowed in my ears from excitement.

"Yeah, blow out the candles!" Nikki added enthusiastically, her Magby leaping up onto the table with her.

I looked down at the roughly square vanilla cake sitting in front of me, spread haphazardly all over with slightly runny white frosting, a giant, but rather squiggly 17 in the middle, and mismatching candles stabbed in it in irregular intervals and I had to laugh. "Really? Is this the best you two can do?" I directed my question at Jasmine and Nikki.

"Hey, they aren't the ones going to pastry school, remember?" Elliot cut in cheerfully, planting a soft kiss on my cheek.

"Yeah, you should be grateful you even _got _a cake in the first place," Scott interjected, looking decidedly bored from his place at the table.

"Jeez, all this abuse on _my _birthday!" I laughed.

"Well, blow out the candles then!" Mum, Jasmine and Nikki chorused, practically in unison.

I spread my hands in innocence. "Okay, okay! I will!"

I took a deep breath and blew. It took me a few attempts to get every single candle on that cake blown out, but I eventually got it, amid cheers from everyone around me.

"Amph! Amph! Amph!" Meloi jumped up and down, pulling at my skirt in an act that was clearly saying "Feed me cake! Feed me cake!" I grinned and patted her, gently pushing her away, telling her she would get her own treat.

"Elliot?" I called for him as he delved into the drawer for a sharp knife which he passed over to me. "Could you go into the fridge and get me those Poffins I made yesterday?"

"Sure thing," he grinned.

As I sunk the knife between the layers of sponge, my mum cursed as she heard the phone ringing and dashed out of the kitchen to answer it. I deftly cut out giant wedges of the cake and placed them on plates, handing them out to Nikki, Jasmine and Scott, and then setting a plate each for myself and Elliot. Before I could get a chance to eat any cake myself, Elliot passed over the Tupperware box full of Poffins I had baked the other day.

"Well, it's not fair we all get cake and the Pokemon don't!" I said by way of explanation when I got strange looks from Nikki and Jasmine.

"But didn't you make all them to sell?" Nikki pointed out.

"Ah, stuff selling them!" I grinned. "It's a special occasion!"

"Fair enough," Jasmine beamed, tossing her six Pokeballs in the air, revealing her team of Pokemon. "Those Poffins you make are _gold_ for Pokemon! They _really _work! If you're offering them free, then I'm all for it."

"Same," said Scott, nonchalantly tossing his Pokeballs to the ground.

Nikki looked embarrassed at the display, but diligently released her own, swiftly followed by Elliot and then I called out my remaining five Pokemon.

As you can probably guess, attempting to fit five humans and _thirty _Pokemon in one small kitchen is _never _a good idea. I had to usher practically all of the Pokemon out into our (relatively small) back garden and toss the Poffins to them before I could get back inside. I had a sneaking suspicion that if Professor Oak or any of the neighbours walked past the house at that time they would probably die of fright from the number of Pokemon in our garden. When I returned to the kitchen, I found everyone still sitting at the table, chatting amongst themselves, hungrily devouring the cake in front of them.

"How's the cake?" I asked, sitting down to a chair in between Elliot and Nikki.

"Well to be blunt, it's not as good as yours, Sienna," Elliot stated, and promptly earned himself a clout around the back of the head from an angered Jasmine.

"Yeah? Well I think we did _pretty damn good _considering Nikki and I had never made a cake in our lives!"

"Yeah, and you said it yourself… Sienna _does _go to pastry school…" Nikki observed timidly, looking a little disappointed. "But I do agree… it's not a very good cake, is it?"

"No, no, no!" I insisted, swiftly stuffing a wedge of it in my mouth and chewing furiously. "Look! It's lovely, really!" I insisted, but then, in sheer Sienna style, I ended up choking on it.

"You're an embarrassment, _really_…" Scott commented dryly, mimicking my tone, pushing his cake around his plate with his fork.

"Scott!" Nikki cautioned her brother. "Don't be so mean!"

"I know! You've turned into a nasty little sod since you beat all the Kanto Gym Leaders…" Jasmine commented angrily, glaring at Scott.

"You're just jealous cos you can't." Scott fired back immediately.

"Oh, come on! What are we? Five years old! Grow up!" Jasmine retorted.

"Guys, guys, please!" Nikki intervened before things could get nasty.

"I'm sorry, but he's being downright rude!" Jasmine pointed at Scott accusingly. "I mean, this is the first time we've seen you two for months, what with Scott challenging the gyms and you taking on the contest circuit," Jasmine sounded a bit despondent as she looked at Nikki. "I just don't want it to all be spoiled…"

"Don't be daft, it's not _being _spoiled." I insisted, absent-mindedly reaching down to pat the head of one of the baby Lillipup that my mother had recently began breeding as it tottered across the kitchen floor. "It's just… I'm so happy to have everyone together again. It's been a long time since we were _all _together."

"Yeah, it really has." Elliot nodded nostalgically. "Not since the final of that big contest Nikki was in, what… four or five months ago?"

"How time flies," I said philosophically before taking another bite of cake.

There was a silence as we all thoughtfully chewed on our cake, listening to the sounds of chattering Pokemon outside. The baby Lillipup wound its way around my legs until I eventually dropped it a few crumbs to quieten it. I began to wonder where mum had disappeared to…

I didn't have to wait long to find out.

Her figure appeared at the kitchen door. She looked pale, like she had just seen a ghost. Immediately, I dropped my fork and got to my feet, worried. "Mum?"

"Sienna…" she said, her voice flat, expressionless. She cleared her throat, trying to regain herself. "Listen… umm… I just got a call from an Officer Jenny in Hoenn."

"An officer Jenny in Hoenn?" I repeated slowly, making sure I was hearing her right.

"Yes," she nodded. "She… she's part of the prison service over there." My heart leapt at this, wondering what the hell she was going to say. "Your father… your father was apparently just released from prison."

"Released!" I gasped, the word sending shivers of fear down my back. "But… but he's only been in for a year and a half!"

"Apparently he was released early for good behaviour," Mum said disbelievingly. "But that's not the issue."

"Not the issue? Then what _is_?" I asked desperately.

"According to the Jenny, your father has seen the error of his ways…" she said, shaking her head as if she couldn't believe what she was saying. "He's in the middle of setting up a dojo in Goldenrod City in the Johto region. And he wants you to go down there."

"Why?" I demanded at once.

"Officer Jenny said he didn't leave a reason. Just that it was vitally important that you go down there."

I blinked in the face of this unbelievable news. "What? No… no… I mean, how… how can I trust him? How do we know he's just not going to go after Legendary Pokemon again?"

"Jenny said he was a "reformed character" since he's been in prison." Mum scoffed, clearly not buying the explanation.

I shook my head vehemently. "No." I said, firmly. What else could I say? I mean, how could I trust him? This was the man that had joined up to an organization to capture Legendary Pokemon for their own gains! Yes, even though Dad had originally been bribed into joining, I couldn't ignore the fact that the promise of power had sent him mad, and he had carried out his orders willingly from that point on! Even though he had seen everything crumble around him, even if he had tried to protect me against Nathan that one time… I still wasn't sure if I could trust him! What could he _want _of me?

"Sienna," I heard Elliot venture from next to me. I felt his warm hand in mine, shocking me back into my senses. "I think you should go."

"Go? Why?" I turned on him immediately.

Elliot looked at me sadly. "He's your father. And I know what he did was wrong… but don't you think you at least owe it to him to find out his side of things?"

"After the way he treated me?"

"Okay, like I said, maybe there was a reason for all that. For the way he treated you as a kid, I mean. I still think you should do it," Elliot reiterated firmly.

"I don't," Mum suddenly cut in. "Sienna, your father is a horrible man. Like you said yourself, he was never a father to you. And after what he did with that Nathan two years ago… the way he treated you when you were little… You don't _owe _him anything. I think you should just leave him to it."

I had to think about it for a long time before I finally made my decision. I looked around at Jasmine, Nikki, Elliot, Scott and even my own Pokemon who had ventured back into the kitchen upon hearing the commotion. I hadn't been on a journey in almost two years. I had barely even _trained _in two years. Was I really ready to go charging off into another region I knew nothing about to meet a man that I wasn't even sure I wanted anything to do with anymore?

"Will… will you guys come with me?" I asked, looking across at my friends.

"Amph! Amph!" Meloi replied determinedly at once.

A grin spread across Jasmine's face. "Heck, if Meloi's in, I'm in!"

"I'll go too!" Nikki enthused. "I haven't been to Johto in years."

"I _could_ use the extra training…" Scott mused.

"You know I'm always gonna be there for you," Elliot murmured in my ear, for my benefit only.

"Okay…" I said determinedly, making up my mind. "I'm going."

My mum groaned, but let out a resigned sigh. "I guess I can't stop you. You're seventeen now. Just promise me you won't do anything stupid."

"When do I ever do anything stupid?" I joked, but then quickly becoming serious again. What I had just agreed to do… it was insane, really. Part of me was screaming "_what the hell are you doing_?" and I could understand why I felt like that. I was willingly walking back into the arms of the man who had been an accomplice to a plot to capture Legendary Pokemon, and who had treated me like a constant disappointment during my childhood, not even batting an eye as he treated me so cruelly. Was I really doing this?

Looks like I was.

"Then it's settled," I said, looking out the kitchen window out at Pallet Town. "We're leaving for Johto. As soon as possible."

* * *

**Author's Note**

**Well, this little Epilogue should show those of you still reading what I'm intending to do with the fic from here on out. **

**I haven't got a full plotline established for this sequel, but once I do… :)**

**I just have to say, before I say anything else, I LOVED getting the reviews from the final chapter. They came in so fast, and I just adored them. I almost cried when I read some of them (especially Sniper Mudkip's and Cookie Krisps'). But thank you all who took the time to review the final chapter. It means more than you could imagine.**

**So what's next for me? First off, I'm gonna go back over Spirited and edit some of the chapters, fix all the little errors and beef up a lot of the earlier chapters, so watch out for that. **

**After that? Well, I'm taking some time off from . I've got an original fiction I want to rewrite, plus I've got a friend staying for a week on Thursday. But once I've made some headway with my novel, I'll be back. **

**I'll devote some time to Opposites Attract, then I have some short story ideas for Spirited that I'd like to share with you all, including a short story with Nikki and Jasmine, some various greenhornshipping (ElliotXSienna) stories, a story about Nathan's rise to power, then hopefully back to my Spirited sequel. If anyone has any ideas for some stories, get in touch and you'll get full credit :)**

**I'd like to do something for Spirited's one year birthday which is on July 10th, so check back with me for that. I don't know what to do, maybe a birthday story or some drawings… of course, if anyone wants to contribute to that, they'll be more than welcome. **

**So, goodbye... for now :)**

**You guys are all awesome. **

**OceanSpiral**

**xxx**


End file.
